Ankara - The implementation of two constitutional amendments allowing womento wear Islamic-style headscarves at universities varied Monday with some universities allowing covered women to enter classes and others forcing students to uncover before being allowed onto campus. Students wearing the headscarf were allowed into Bogazici University, but at the nearby Istanbul Technical University the ban on the covering continued, Anadolu news agency reported.
The Dogan news agency reported that nine universities in Anatolia, not counting Istanbul universities, had allowed covered women to enter campuses but it appeared the majority of universities were continuing to implement bans.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) earlier this month passed two constitutional amendments aimed at lifting bans on the headscarf at universities that were put in place in 1997. President Gul on Friday night approved the changes and on Sunday the head of the Higher Education Board (YOK) said women were now free to wear the headscarf.
Constitutional experts were divided on whether a further change in the Higher Education Law was needed before students would be free to wear the scarf.
Fierce secularists argue that the headscarf is not a religious requirement but instead a political symbol. They fear that allowing the headscarf into universities is an example of the Islamic-rooted AKP government's creeping Islamification of the Turkish secular state.
