| Turkey's Islamic-leaning prime minister called Wednesday for lifting a ban on women wearing head scarves in universities, a shift in position that is certain to alarm secularists who fear the government is moving to foist a Muslim agenda on the nation. Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement at a news conference that he wants a constitutional change to remove the ban comes just weeks after he scored a major political triumph: the election of his ally Abdullah Gul — a devout Muslim — as Turkey's president. The opposition had vehemently opposed Erdogan's choice of Gul for the influential and highly symbolic post, saying it would open the way for the government to carry out an Islamic agenda. Erdogan's comments Wednesday will raise suspicions he is taking the first step in that direction, particularly because it was a tempest over the head scarf worn by Gul's wife that galvanized opposition to the former foreign minister's presidential bid. |
The slow creep has now started. If the ban is lifted I guarantee that those without headscarves will be in the minority really fast due to peer pressure.
| Turkey's secular elite fears that lifting the head scarf ban will have a snowball effect — putting pressure on women to wear ever more conservative attire and opening new avenues for the government to impose Islam on public and private life. |
Just a matter of when, not if.
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