"Muruvvet Aktas, fired from her teaching job for wearing the Muslim headscarf, has not entered a school for years because it makes her feel very uncomfortable."
"Aktas and Bakacak fell afoul of a strict ban on headscarves in schools and other public buildings in Turkey, a secular but overwhelmingly Muslim country where a majority of women, from the prime minister's wife down, wear the garment.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has tried to ease the ban but has run into stiff opposition from Turkey's staunchly secular military and bureaucratic establishment.
Critics say Turkey's ban exceeds restrictions seen in other countries and that it violates individual freedom of expression in a country set to start European Union entry talks."
"Defenders of Turkey's headscarf ban say it is a legitimate way to counter Islamic fundamentalism, which they say wants to impose its religious symbols on society and to establish a state based on religious precepts.
They also point to a key ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last year which upheld the ban and rejected an appeal from a Turkish student barred from attending Istanbul University because her headscarf broke the official dress code."
HoustonChronicle.com - Female Turks alienated by ban on headscarves
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