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| Europe |
| Headscarved women march against Turkish court ruling |
| 2008-06-07 |
| Hundreds of women wearing headscarves protested in Turkey on Friday against a court ruling to cancel a reform that allowed students to wear the Muslim garment in universities. About 500 women protested in Diyarbakir after Friday prayers and hundreds more chanted slogans. “I’m crushed and feel hopeless. I really don’t feel equal to anybody else in this country anymore,” said Esra Altinay Ozbecetek, 29, who left university when she was 19 because she was not allowed to wear her headscarf to class. Like Ozbecetek, thousands of women have not attended university because of the ban, which has been enforced strictly since 1997.The AK Party passed the amendment earlier this year to allow students to cover their heads and attend universities -- angering the secularist establishment that sees the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam. The Constitutional Court cancelled the reform on Thursday in a ruling analysts say has increased the AK party’s chances to be banned for Islamist activities. According to recent surveys, approximately two-thirds of Turkish women wear the headscarf and support lifting the ban. “It means we are not equal. Headscarved women will continue to suffer discrimination,” said Neslihan Akbulut, head of rights group Akder. |
| Posted by:Fred |