ANKARA, 16 January 2008 — A new Turkish Constitution in the planning stages will likely include a provision to end a ban on the Islamic head scarf in universities, a senior ruling party official said yesterday. “A provision removing this ban could be included in the new constitution,” Mehmet Mir Dengir Firat, deputy head of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), told NTV television.
The government is drafting a new constitution to replace the current one, which is the legacy of a 1980 military coup. It has been amended several times but its many critics say a fundamental overhaul is needed to stamp out its authoritarian spirit and make it fully democratic.
The AKP, the offshoot of a now-banned Islamist party, has long opposed the head scarf ban in universities, arguing that it violates both the freedom of conscience and the right to education. Secularist forces, including the army, senior judges and many top academics, see the Islamic head scarf as a symbol of defiance against Turkey’s fiercely guarded secular system.
In comments yesterday on the highly controversial issue, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said wearing the head scarf should be free, even if it is a symbol of political Islam. Erdogan’s wife and two daughters, as well as most wives of AKP members of Parliament, cover up. The AKP’s opponents say easing the restrictions will erode Turkey’s secular fabric and increase conservative social pressure on women to cover up.
Meanwhile, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq yesterday in the latest in a series of cross border air strikes, Turkey’s army said. “Intensive” strikes targeted Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the regions of Zap-Sivi, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk, the general staff said in a statement on it website.
“The aircraft returned safely to base after successfully completing their mission,” it said, adding that “maximum care” was taken to avoid civilian casualties. It gave no toll. It was the fourth airstrike against PKK targets in northern Iraq the Turkish military has confirmed since Dec. 16, in addition to a cross-border ground operation to stop a group of militants seeking to infiltrate Turkey.
Iraqi Kurds, who run northern Iraq, reported two other air operations in December that Ankara did not confirm. Turkey has massed up to 100,000 soldiers near the Iraqi border, and in October, the Turkish Parliament gave a one-year authorization for cross-border military action against the PKK.
Erdogan said Monday he could not predict when the offensive against Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq would end.
