In a landmark decision, Turkey’s Higher Education Board earlier this month ordered Istanbul University to stop teachers from expelling from classrooms students who do not comply with a ban on the headscarf. It was the latest twist in a long political and legal tussle in Turkey between those who see the garment as a symbol of their faith and those who view it as a challenge to the country’s secular constitution. “I was ready to wear the wig, just like my cousin did,” said Gungor, a 18-year-old student wearing a pastel-coloured headscarf. “This is about my freedom. I don’t see why my headscarf should be seen as a threat to anybody.” Disputes over the headscarf and other public symbols of Islam are part of a wider debate over how to reconcile modernity and tradition as Turkey tries to achieve its decades-old ambition to join the European Union. Together with the courts, Turkey’s army – which has a long history of intervening in politics and has ousted four elected governments – has long seen itself as a bulwark against any roll back toward Islamisation. But reforms aimed at bringing Turkey closer to the EU have clipped the generals’ power.
TURKEY EASES HEADSCARF BAN
In a landmark decision, Turkey’s Higher Education Board earlier this month ordered Istanbul University to stop teachers from expelling from classrooms students who do not comply with a ban on the headscarf. It was the latest twist in a long political
