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Sezer shook the hands of Munevver as she saw him off to Prague for the NATO summit.
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With
additional reporting by Saad Abdul Majid, IOL Turkey correspondent
ISTANBUL,
November 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Turkish President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer warned Sunday, November 25, against changing the law to
allow women to wear Islamic-style headscarves in public places in the
Muslim but staunchly secular country.
“It
does not benefit anyone for the headscarf issue, which has reappeared on
the agenda, to create problems again,” Sezer said, the Anatolia news
agency reported.
His
remarks put him at odds with the new government led by the Islamic-based
Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has pledged to lift the ban
on headscarves, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Turkey’s
new speaker of parliament, Bulent Arinc, created uproar on Thursday,
November 21, when he attended an official ceremony with his wife, who
was wearing a headscarf.
But
the Cumhuriyet newspaper branded Munevver Arinc’s attendance at
a ceremony last week to see Sezer off to Prague for the NATO summit as
an “affront” to Turkey’s values. Sezer shook the hands of Munevver
in that ceremony.
Arinc,
who holds the second highest office in the republic after the president,
said Sunday he had no comment on Sezer’s remarks.
Despite
the majority of its population being Muslim, Turkey enforces a strict
ban on Islamic-style headscarves in public offices and universities
where they are viewed as a declaration of religious fundamentalism.
Sezer
said the constitutional court had already ruled on the wearing of
headscarves in state offices or public places and there was “no
need” for changes to the legislation.
“We
want to say again that there is no question of renouncing the
fundamental principles of the state, which are guaranteed by the nature
of the constitution,” he added.
The
wives of 16 ministers in the 25-member cabinet, including Prime Minister
Abdullah Gul, wear a headscarf, a record number in Turkish history.
The
AKP, which says it has forsworn its Islamic heritage for a more
center-right agenda, has pledged a series of human rights reforms
including improving religious freedoms to try to boost its bid to join
the European Union, AFP said.
Speaking
on the occasion of Teacher’s Day, Sezer said that secularism principle
came first among several basic principles of the Republic which were
taken under guarantee with the first articles of the Constitution, the
Turkish Press internet site reported.
Sezer
stressed that it was not possible to put the social, economic, political
and legal basis of the state on the religious rules due to secularism
principle and stated that it was not useful to bring the issue of head
scarf onto agenda as a problem again, it added.
Meanwhile,
the Arabic service of AFP quoted Mohammad Ali Shahin, the Turkish Deputy
Prime minister saying that he is not disturbed by Sezer’s warnings and
said that it is possible to solve the education problem for scarf
wearing girls.
He
said that it is possible to solve the issue through article 42 of the
constitution which states that no individual could be deprived from his
right to education and that it is maintained as a right for everyone
according to Ataturk’s principles.
Speaking
to Turkish newspaper Al Wakt, Dr. Mustafa Onaldi, the member of
parliament from the Justice and Development Party, said that the
constitution does not ban the hijab, but that in fact, the ban is
unconstitutional.
He
added that Article 13 of the constitution mentions that any banning must
be done through the law and that there is no law that bans the hijab.
He
also stressed that the secular principle of the state does not mean
“no” to religion, but in fact means that there must be a freedom of
religious expression and that the state must not interfere with
religious affairs.
Turkish
newspaper Millet, said that Sezer will not bring his wife with
him to his upcoming visit to Germany, to prevent Arinc from brining
along his wife to see him off.
Speaking
to American newsmagazine, Newsweek, in its November 18 issue, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, the chairman of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party
addressed the issue of ending the ban on women in Turkey from wearing a
headscarf to office or university.
“We
must respect this right, as it is respected in the U.S. For example, my
daughters [who wear head scarfs] cannot go to school in this country,
but must go to school in the U.S.”
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