Amendment does not free scarf: Turkish prosecutor
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Sabih Kanadoglu, honorary chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, said Saturday that the constitutional amendment would not free the headscarf ban.
"The constitutional amendment is the reiteration of the clauses already existing in Articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution," Kanadoglu said, attending a conference in Istanbul. Recalling that the constitutional amendment added the statement "...and in benefitting from all public services" in the last sentence of the Constitution's Article 10 on "Equality before the Law", Kanadoglu said such an amendment would not change the meaning of the article, Anatolian Agency reported.Â
Moreover, Kanadoglu recalled that the bill also amended Article 42 of the Constitution on "Right and Duty of Training and Education", by adding the statement "No one can be deprived of the right to receive higher education for reasons not openly mentioned by laws. The limits of the use of this right will be determined by law." Kanadoglu said, again, such statement was not different from the previous version of the article and it did not free headscarf.
Leading academics have warned there could be clashes on campuses and a boycott of classes by some female academics. Since the bill approved by the President Abdullah Gul the universities are divided over lifting the ban. Observers say legal uncertainties further complicate the already sensitive and controversial matter, adding the annulment ruling will help to ease tension. Â
Legal experts are also divided over the issue. Some say the amendment of two articles of the constitution would be enough to lift the ban, but the rest disagrees, saying the ban was put in place not by a law but by a verdict of the Constitutional Court and a top court and they interpreted that the lifting the headscarf ban in universities will harm Turkey's secular system, which is defined in the 2nd article of the Constitution. The first three articles of the constitution cannot be changed or even proposed to be changed.
Main opposition party CHP and leftist DSP had referred to the Constitutional Court on February 27, asking the judges to either cancel the amendments or consider them nonexistent, and had halt the proceedings regarding the mentioned law, until the case is finalized. Upon this, Turkey's Constitutional Court decided on Thursday to hear the case regarding to the annulment of the constitutional amendments to lift the headscarf ban in universities.