By Gareth Jones
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's main opposition party said onWednesday it had asked the Constitutional Court to quash agovernment-backed reform aimed at easing a ban on womenstudents wearing the Muslim headscarf at university.
The move by the staunchly secularist Republican People'sParty (CHP) comes amid increased tensions between Turkey'sIslamist-rooted government and a powerful secular elite thatsays the reform will erode the separation of state andreligion.
"(The reforms) appear to contradict the principle enshrinedin the constitution that states 'the sacred feelings ofreligion must absolutely not be mixed up with state affairs andpolicy'," the CHP said in its appeal lodged at the court.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling centre-right AKParty, backed by a key nationalist party in parliament, saysthe constitutional amendments will boost individual freedoms inTurkey, a candidate for European Union membership.
Parliament voted through the amendments on February 9 andPresident Abdullah Gul approved them last Friday.
Under the changes, the headscarf ban will still apply forwomen professors as well as for civil servants in Turkey, acountry where some two thirds of women cover their heads.
Only scarves tied beneath the chin, in traditional Turkishstyle, would be allowed on campus. The increasingly fashionablewrap-round headscarf, seen as a symbol of political Islam, andthe burka, covering the whole body, would remain banned.
EMOTIVE ISSUE
The issue evokes powerful emotions in Muslim butconstitutionally secular Turkey and has triggered a series oflarge protest rallies.
"It is inevitable that unlimited freedom of dress wouldharm and even destroy social peace and national solidarity,"said the CHP in its legal appeal, which was also backed by thesmall Democratic Left Party (DSP).
Secularists say allowing women to wear the headscarf inuniversities would gradually lead to social pressure on allwomen to cover up their heads in Turkey and pave the way fordiscrimination against those who resisted.
"It is clear that the headscarf and similar garments...will become symbolic of a world view contrary to the basicprinciples of the Republic and the freedom of women," the CHPsaid.
The body that supervises Turkish higher education, known asYOK, is also split over the issue, with its new chairman YusufZiya Ozcan backing the reform against hardline secularistrectors who agree with the CHP that it is illegal anddangerous.
Ozcan has said students wearing the headscarf should now beallowed onto campuses but many rectors argue that parliamentmust first amend a related law governing YOK.
This week, Turkish television and newspapers have reportedthat some universities have started to allow women wearingheadscarves onto their grounds while many others have not.
"The turmoil continues in the universities," said theheadline of the centrist Milliyet daily on Wednesday.
The headscarf ban in universities dates back to the 1980sbut was tightened in 1997 when army generals, with publicsupport, ousted a government they deemed too Islamist. The armyhas remained largely quiet during the latest headscarf debates.
(Additional reporting by Hidir Goktas)
(Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
