TURKEY: The European Court of Human Rights has upheld Turkey's ban on women wearing headscarves in universities, leaving no more avenues for appeal for the woman fighting the law. The Strasbourg-based Grand Chamber yesterday confirmed an earlier ruling against Leyla Sahin, saying Turkey's notion of secularism was consistent with the values underpinning the European Convention on Human Rights.
Ms Sahin was barred from attending Istanbul University medical school in 1998 because her headscarf violated the official dress code. The ruling was a victory for Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim society which has imposed a rigidly secular system since the 1920s.
The court said that it took into consideration the need to protect rights and freedoms and maintain public order in a country where a majority of the population, while professing a strong attachment to a secular way of life, adhere to the Islamic faith. "Imposing limitations on the freedom to wear the headscarf could, therefore, be regarded as meeting a pressing social need by seeking to achieve those two legitimate aims, especially since that religious symbol had taken on political significance in Turkey in recent years," the court said.
