Turkish leader: Lift head scarf ban - Yahoo! News
Turkey's Islamic-leaning prime minister called Wednesday for lifting a ban on women wearing head scarves in universities, a shift in position that is certain to alarm secularists who fear the government is moving to foist a Muslim agenda on the nation.Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement at a news conference that he wants a constitutional change to remove the ban comes just weeks after he scored a major political triumph: the election of his ally Abdullah Gul — a devout Muslim — as Turkey's president.
The opposition had vehemently opposed Erdogan's choice of Gul for the influential and highly symbolic post, saying it would open the way for the government to carry out an Islamic agenda.
Erdogan's comments Wednesday will raise suspicions he is taking the first step in that direction, particularly because it was a tempest over the head scarf worn by Gul's wife that galvanized opposition to the former foreign minister's presidential bid.
Secularists were appalled that a first lady wearing a head scarf would enter the presidential palace occupied by Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and they waged an unsuccessful four-month battle to block Gul's election.
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