TURKEY:TURKEY HAS partially lifted the ban on students wearing Muslim headscarves but covered women are still marching on university gates demanding to be let in.
At Istanbul's Marmara University, a few hundred students in brightly coloured silk headscarves, trade union members and a few schoolgirls protested against university rectors who refused to let covered students into class.
The rectors, strong supporters of secularism, have said they will not allow covered students into university until a more detailed law is passed. "[ The new reform] was passed with 411 votes in parliament, the president signed it, but the rectors don't accept it," said Nur Akdag, a 22-year-old international relations student. "Are the rectors above the president?"
Some headscarfed protesters twice marched towards the entrance, where security guards blocked their path. They pledged to challenge the rectors in court.
"The [ rectors] want to go against the government but as a result they're going against all the students," said Zeynep Arslan, a 21-year-old business student, at the protest on the Asian side of Turkey's largest city.
Parliament, dominated by the religious-leaning AK Party, passed a constitutional amendment this month to allow students to wear the headscarf. President Abdullah Gul signed it into law last Friday. The secular main opposition party CHP challenged the reform in court yesterday. -