Court annuls Turkish scarf reform
BBC
06-Jun-2008 (11 comments)

Turkey's highest court has blocked government moves to allow college students to wear Muslim headscarves.
The Constitutional Court said that a vote by parliament to ease a ban on scarves being worn on campuses violated the constitution's secular principles.

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Anonymouse

Absolutely

by Anonymouse on

I absolutely think what Turks are doing is wrong.  Why can't a young university student wear a nice YSL rosary?  Forget about the religious crap.  Doesn't YSL make rosaries? what are they called in Europe, head scarves? call it that.  Wasn't YSL supposed to have been a revolutionary fashion icon?  Who did he make those head scarves for?

Same goes for French. Now some religious leader is going to go fatwa on their ass and then JJ is going to get all worked up! Here we go again, we have to talk about fatwas and killings and all that crap all over again.  Who would be more at fault here? the lunatic minister(s) who banned head scarves knowing it may incite their religious decrees or the lunatic religious leader(s) who issue the decree?


Parham

Anonymouse

by Parham on

The "highest court" is surely supposed to do the interpretation, but it's not supposed to change the law. The law probably says something like "universities should remain secular", meaning religion is not to be taught or advertised at universities, or at least that's the spirit of the law. Question is, is wearing a scarf advertising one's religion? If a Christian woman wore a cross on her neck, would she be advertising her religion? Wouldn't it be more like one is showing his/her freedom to be wearing a certain type of dress or necklace?
Take it the other way around: Wouldn't forbidding to wear a certain type of dress actually be going against personal freedoms?
One thing I've always felt about what the French decided was that they shot themselves in the foot by taking away a freedom.
Look at history, a lot of fascistic systems start just that way. Would I even need to give you an example?
Also take a look at right-wing (and of course ultra right-wing) European parties --and the American system in general, as it is all right-wing i.m.o-- a lot of the laws that get proposed and passed start from that premise: They think they want to liberate something, but in fact they paradoxically limit those same freedoms (remember McCarthyism?).
I'd cry foul there.


Anonymouse

Parham

by Anonymouse on

Isn't Turkey's "highest court" job to interpret the constitution?  Here in US when there is a disagreement about idividual rights and the issue find its way to the "highest court" in America (Supreme Court), the ruling of the court is based on their interpretation of constitution and once they render their ruling no one can over rule them.  For example, early on they said black people are property so people bought and sold people and that went on for years until another court said that is against the constitution and all people are created equal.

I think this ban may have to do with university students and not to people in general.  So this is like a reverse of what women do in Iran.  University students wear hijabs at University and when they get to the party they'll throw away their hijabs and slip into something more comfortable.  In Turkey they'll wear the hijab at home and slip into something more comfortable when they go to the University.

We're STILL talking about property rights and the definition of property.


Parham

Anonymouse

by Parham on

Is it really against the Turkish constitution to wear a scarf?

No, of course Sarkozy is not challenging it. He's all for it.


Parham

Jimzbund

by Parham on

So are you saying Turkish women should be free to wear whatever they want or not, in general?


Anonymouse

So

by Anonymouse on

Are the President and Prime Minister ignoring Turkish constitution? How can that be?  When they took the oath to protect Turkey and it's constitution, were they cherry picking the items? Or was the constitution amended after they took the oath of office?  Presumably the "highest court" in Turkey is only protecting the law which is the constitution, not withstanding what their definition of the word IS is!

I would imagine this wouldn't sit well with the EU.  On the other hand French also recently passed such a law.  Is that being challenged or is Sargoozi not challeging that law?

 


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Parham

by Anonymous21 (not verified) on

Roosari is not a choice, it is a propaganda. If Turkish moslems want to make this kind of propaganda for their ideas, they should make it with their own money, not with the people's money in public universities.


Parham

Anonymouse

by Parham on

Actually, that's the whole issue. Both the president and the prime minister of Turkey belong to the AKP, which is cited (also in the article) as "the bastion of anti-secular activities". They're both the "mo'men" type and their wives wear scarves.


Parham

But jimzbund...

by Parham on

...what about people's freedom? Shouldn't they be free to wear what they want?


Anonymouse

Turkish first lady is in Rosary. See

by Anonymouse on

I don't understand.  How come Turkey's first lady wears rosary?  There are 2 links for the pictures, click on both.


jimzbund

dameh Turkha garm

by jimzbund on

Going from a caliphate state to a secular state was one of the biggest achievements in the 20th century and I wish Reza Shah had followed Ataturk's advice and got rid of the Mullahs then but unfortunately he fell short and his superstitious son who thought he is being protected by Imam Reza put the nails on their and millions of other Iraninas as a result.  

 

 

Bund, Jimz Bund