Turkey will allow girls in public high schools and primary schools to wear the Islamic headscarf, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told local media following a cabinet meeting this week.
Turkey, which is a Muslim-majority nation but legally a secular republic, had a ban on headscarves in universities until 2008 when laws were changed.
In 2013, the regulations were further relaxed to allow women to wear the head coverings at all public institutions.
“Everyone can live their own lives. Those who want to can wear them and those who don’t won’t,” Davutoglu told broadcaster NTV on Monday night.
Davutoglu, from the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), said women in his own family felt “oppressed” by the laws which outlawed the Islamic head covering, often worn by religious Muslim women as a sign of modesty.
Education Minister Nabu Avci was quoted as saying that girls would be allowed to wear the headscarf starting in the fifth grade.
There was opposition to the decision from secular corners, including from left-wing teachers’ unions.
“Our society is being dragged into the Middle Ages by exploiting faith,” Kamuran Karacan, the head of teachers’ union Egitim-Sen, was quoted as saying in local media.
“This decision will cause trauma in this country, which has a secular education,” Karacan added.
GNA
