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Turkey High Court's Headscarf Opinions Published

By Howard M. Friedman

Yesterday, Turkey's Constitutional Court published in the Official Gazette the majority and dissenting opinions in its June ruling striking down constitutional amendments that would have allowed wearing Islamic headscarves on university campuses. (See prior posting.) The provision in Turkey's constitution that the country is secular and democratic is unamendable, and the court said in its earlier order that the amendments violated that principle. According to Today's Zaman,the newly-published majority opinion said in part: "Persons might feel obliged to wear a headscarf, which goes against freedom of conscience. In a state regime where the nation has sovereignty, there can be no room for divine will based on Godly orders." The dissenters wrote: "The interpretation that the amendment runs contrary to the Constitution's principle of secularism is a forced interpretation."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on October 23, 2008 (boomark / email).