More and more signatures from university professors across Turkey are being added to a declaration of academics in support of the removal of the ban on the headscarf at Turkish universities.

The declaration, first posted on a Web site with the signatures of 300 academics, has garnered fast-growing support since Friday afternoon. The number of university instructors endorsing the document had risen to over 2,000 as of noon on Sunday.
Female university students who are pious Muslims might well be allowed into universities while wearing headscarves soon, but university rectors who support the ban on the headscarf gathered on Friday to resist that possibility, even as the group of 300 academics and professors from various universities issued a declaration supporting the removal of the ban:

"We who are university instructors have been following recent discussions as well as years of policies regarding clothing and outfits closely and with great concern. We believe that universities should take an approach favoring freedoms, not prohibitions, when it comes to fundamental human rights such as the freedoms of thought, expression, religion, belief and education. We want our universities to be remembered for the science they are engaged in, as this is the worthy way for contemporary, civilized countries. We believe that as in every country, the freedom to dress whichever way a person wants should be given to all of our students without discrimination on the basis of religion, belief, thought, race, ethnic group or gender, and demand that all implementations to the contrary be halted at once. We hereby announce this to the public with respect."

A bill that includes measures to put an end to the ban was passed in a parliamentary committee on Friday. The bill will be voted on by Parliament this week. Although dozens of rectors and deans gathered on Friday to protest the bill, many other university rectors refrained from attending the meeting and voiced their support for allowing headscarved students into schools. Bahçeşehir University President Deniz Ãœlke Arıboğan, who did not sign the pro-headscarf declarations but who also did not attend the anti-headscarf meeting, said: “This has turned into a political struggle. This is why we did not participate in Friday’s gathering.” She said there was a clear attempt to create two opposing “sides” on the issue. “For us, secularism and democracy are essential principles. But we are worried about the recent discussions.”

Çukurova University head Alper Akınoğlu also did not attend the meeting, saying he was equally tired of the partisanship dominating the discussions. “Everybody in Turkey is in the same boat. If one of us is hurt, all of us will be. I believe that our problems will be solved over time when the environment is calmer.”

Fırat University Rector Hamdi Muz said he was a member of the council that gathered on Friday and agreed with its decisions; however, he said he did not participate because universities are not legislators. “We are not lawmakers. We implement law. We abide by whatever the legislators say. The only concern we have about the headscarf ban abolishment is that it might lead to clashes and polarization between the students. It would be a serious problem if that happened.”

The rectors of only three private universities attended Friday’s meeting in support of ban; all other rectors were from state universities. Even so, the rectors of 25 state universities did not attend the meeting.

The rector of private Bilgi University, Aydın Uğur, said that although he did not undersign the pro-headscarf declaration, he did not attend the rectors’ anti-headscarf convention, either. Uğur also complained of the partisanship in how the issue is being handled by academics, saying the discussion should have been held in a calmer environment and included larger segments of society.

Sabancı University Rector Tosun Terzioğlu said: “Everyone in the university is entitled to their own opinions. There can be those against or supporting the ban. If everybody thought the same way, then the university would be more like a military unit.”

We will show compassion for those putting up a show

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also criticized the Friday rectors’ meeting.

Speaking at an event of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Erdoğan said those trying to make headscarved people seem like anti-secularists were dividing the society.

“I have a few words for those who claim that secularism will be destroyed, Turkey will become a state of religion, the basic values of the republic will be demolished and people who do not wear headscarves will be under pressure,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying in a speech in Istanbul late on Saturday. “Aren’t you the ones dividing the society by accusing everybody who does not think or dress like you of being an enemy of secularism or the regime?”

He also appealed to the country’s citizens, saying they need not fear that their lifestyle is under any sort of threat. “You should know that secularism is a guarantee. Do not feel that you or your lifestyle are [under threat], whether you are man or a woman.”

Erdoğan accused the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of exploiting the headscarf issue. He said the CHP, a fierce opponent of ending the ban, used pictures of headscarved women on its campaign buses during the summer election period.

Protests for and against the headscarf

Also on Saturday, tens of thousands of secular Turks rallied against the government’s plan to allow female students to wear headscarves at universities. In speeches and slogans, the protestors expressed fears that lifting the ban would, over time, lead to heavy pressure on uncovered women to wear headscarves.

“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” they shouted while waving Turkish flags and banners of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the revered founder of the republic, at his mausoleum in the capital of Ankara.

Groups of headscarf supporters criticizing the ban and those supporting the ban also held various protests over the weekend. A group of protesters gathered in İstanbul’s Fatih district to protest the ban’s supporters. In a statement, the Özgür-Der association criticized the proposed amendment to allow the headscarf for being too limited in scope and for including a description of a legally acceptable way to tie a headscarf. “Nobody has the right to describe our headscarf, which is the word of Allah,” the statement said.

Non-scarved students not afraid

Meanwhile, street interviews with university students who do not wear the headscarf showed that many do not share the fear that religious repression would arise if headscarved women were allowed in.

Boğaziçi University graduate student Ceren Kenar said, “I would absolutely not be bothered by going to university with a headscarved student.”

Galatasaray University student Ezgi Emre, a political science major, said: “I want headscarved friends of mine to have access to education. I don’t see them as a threat. I don’t see how they could negatively affect our lives. I think this is pure paranoia.”

Hope for those expelled from university

Meanwhile, other bills concerning female students who have been expelled from university are being drafted by legislators, sources in Parliament say. If the proposal to abolish the headscarf ban is accepted in Parliament next week, some 1.5 million students who have had to quit their undergraduate education since 1981 for headscarf-related reasons might be allowed to go back to university to resume their studies. Proposals to this end have reportedly already been submitted to Parliament by CHP deputy Durdu Özpolat, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy Osman Çakır, Grand Unity Party (BBP) Sivas deputy Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy Sebahat Tuncel.


ZAMAN

I feel I have to support the lifting of this ban, NOT because I agree at all with the wearing of headscarves, but because you will NEVER be able to stop people doing so in this way, and it is more important that ALL women have a chance to further their education.

So true, Aenigma!

Does complete freedom in Universities include the right to to teach Earth is actually flat...never mind astronomers stuff?

I shall revert back to MUSHROOM POLICY OF ADMINISTRATION