Come, poor Yunus, come,
hold the hands of the mature.
In their humility is a cure

...And i think the best answers on Yunus's this lines for people who look like you >>>www.poetry-chaikhana.com/E/EmreYunus/Knowledgesho.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mr-xE7MEP0&feature=user

So true, Aenigma!

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

have a look at my pictures: Lovely headscarf

I wore a scarf "a la Queen Elizabeth" while visiting Orthodox neighborhoods near the Halic.

Wow, what a picture, Meltem!

Banning YouTube is not as easy as banning headscarves.

It has been four days since access to popular video-sharing Web site YouTube was blocked in Turkey because of clips that allegedly insulted the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This was not the first time such a ban had been put into place in Turkey; the same Web site was blocked last year for similar reasons. The YouTube bans in Turkey, which is already under heavy pressure from the EU to expand the scope of freedoms and abolish a notorious article in its penal code that the EU deems violates free speech, has once again highlighted the country’s troubled record on free expression and raised concerns about it losing prestige because such bans are only imposed by backward states.
Sabah’s Emre Aköz thinks that just like all the bans, the YouTube ban also serves for the opposite goal. He explains why: Those who block access to the Web site think that they will protect youth with such bans and stand up for the memory of Atatürk and the Turkish identity. But just the opposite thing happens. As more people heard of the ban, they sought other ways to see the Web site and watch the anti-Atatürk clips in question, something they would probably ignore if there was no ban. According to Aköz, this ban also demoted Turkey to the ranks of undemocratic regimes which frequently resort to such bans and gave ammunition to the opponents of Turkey’s EU bid, who can now say: “We told you these guys are pro-ban. They lack tolerance. They cannot bear hearing criticism. Here is the evidence.” And one ridiculous aspect of the ban, says Aköz, is the fact that those who complain that Turkey is slowly being turned into Iran, an Islamic country, and defend the YouTube ban at the same time, are actually themselves turning Turkey into a country like Iran. “Because Iran is among the several countries where YouTube access is banned,” he quips.

Saying “Banning YouTube is not as easy as banning headscarves” in the headline of his article, Posta’s Mehmet Barlas also touches upon ongoing headscarf ban debates while expressing his discontent over the YouTube ban. The reason he thinks banning YouTube is more difficult than banning those who wear a headscarf from attending universities is the inability to control the virtual world. “Can we now say that we have taken the virtual world under our control by banning YouTube? No. The virtual world is incredibly large, it is both close and far away and a digital world,” he explains. Just like Aköz, Barlas also notes that there are thousands of ways to access YouTube even though it has been banned by court decision. “Blocking full access to a Web site, although possible to block only those controversial videos in this information era, is like blocking access to a school due to an unruly student or banning civil aviation due to an accident,” he argues.

Star columnist Ahmet Kekeç likens the YouTube ban to bans imposed on some books that were found to be “dangerous” by the perpetrators of the 1980 coup in Turkey. “Actually there has not been much of a mentality change since then although the objects of the bans have changed. They banned books yesterday and ban Web sites today,” he says. Voicing his respect for the court’s decision, he does not avoid criticizing it, either. “Will the state decide which Web sites we should follow or not? It is none of anyone’s business. And yet, the Internet provides a space of freedom that cannot be publicized,” Kekeç remarks. Fearing the continuation of such bans he calls on opinion leaders to raise their voices about such prohibitions while also teasing defenders of the ban. “While we expected it from political parties who allegedly have a ‘secret agenda’ to turn Turkey into a backward state, it has happened through the hands of a ‘modern’ institution,” he contends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yccLbT59J4&feature=related