ANKARA: Turkey on Monday announced it would lift a ban on women wearing head scarves in most public offices, following other measures critics say are aimed at Islamizing the staunchly secular country.

In a major speech to introduce political reforms, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that, with a few exceptions, civil servants would be allowed to wear head scarves after a long-standing ban is overturned.

However, the ban will remain in effect for judges, prosecutors, police and military personnel, he added.

The lifting of the ban was part of major political reforms announced by Erdogan in order to enhance the rights of minority groups including Turkey’s 15 million Kurds. More recently, Turkey’s Parliament passed legislation curbing alcohol sales and advertising, the toughest such measures in the republic’s history.