By Hidir Goktas
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's parliament voted in a firstround on Thursday to change the constitution to lift a ban onwomen students wearing the Muslim headscarf at university, ameasure opposed by the secular elite.
The secular establishment, which includes army generals,judges and university rectors, fears ending the ban wouldundermine the separation of state and religion, one of thefounding principles of the modern Turkish republic.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who heads theIslamist-rooted ruling AK Party, has pledged to upholdsecularism but says he wants to allow the headscarf on thecampus to boost religious and personal freedoms.
Two-thirds of Turkish women wear headscarves and manystopped going to university after a ban on wearing them inpublic institutions was extended to universities in 1989.
In the final vote of the first round, the planned amendmentto the constitution to end the ban was approved by 404parliamentarians to 92, easily exceeding the requiredtwo-thirds majority of 367.
The amendment, sponsored by the AKP and the opposition MHP,is expected to be approved in a final round of voting onSaturday as both parties have more than the two-thirds majorityin seats between them.
It is one of the most significant moves on religious issuesin predominantly Muslim but secular Turkey since a militarycoup in 1980 that led to a crackdown on individual rights.
WORST FEARS
Those opposed to lifting the ban see the headscarf as asymbol of their worst fears that Turkey could eventually slideinto Islamic sharia law as practised in neighbouring Iran.
The ban was significantly tightened in 1997 when Turkey'sarmy generals, acting with public support, ousted a governmentthey deemed too Islamist.
More than 120,000 secular Turks in the capital Ankara andother cities held rallies on Saturday against lifting the ban.
Secular rallies last year against the AK Party's choice ofAbdulla Gul, a former Islamist, as president helped prompt anearly parliamentary election.
Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition RepublicanPeople's Party, has threatened to go to the ConstitutionalCourt if the ban is lifted.
Financial markets are closely following the headscarfdebate.
"We do not expect this to result in a political crisis, butwe are concerned that the government's attention will bediverted away from the much-needed structural reforms in themeantime," said economist Yarkin Cebeci at JP Morgan Chase.
The government has been criticised for slowing down reformsrequired to join the European Union as well as failing to passpromised key social security changes.
Under the planned change, the headscarf ban would remain inplace for teachers and civil servants.
(For a Faithworld blog on the headscarf debate please see:http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/01/31/turkish-tempers-flare-as-headscarf-reform-nears/ )
(Writing by Paul de Bendern; Editing by Ralph Gowling)