RNW: Divided Turkey sweats in a political heat wave - Is Erdogan trying to change the secular status of Turkey? by Bernard Bouwman

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Divided Turkey sweats in a political heat wave - by Bernard Bouwman

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party is furious because the Constitutional Court has decided to reinstate the ban on headscarves at Turkish universities. Rarely have the Turkish government and judiciary been so much at loggerheads. Is there any way out of the crisis? MK Party MPs cheered as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan attacked the Turkish Constitutional Court in a speech on Tuesday. In February, MPs voted to abolish the ban on headscarves at Turkish universities, but last week the Constitutional Court revoked the decision. The religious headscarf is again outlawed on campus. And like many others in his party, Mr Erdogan is furious. In his speech to parliament he asserted,
"The constitution clearly says that legislative power belongs solely to elected parliaments" - not, therefore, to the Constitutional Court. "No one can take away the power the constitution grants to the respected parliament." Mr Erdogan's speech is indicative of the degree of political tension in Turkey. The secular camp (the CHP Party, the army and the judiciary) bitterly complains that Mr Erdogan and his supporters are striking at the roots of the secular system in Turkey.They claim only religious people are being appointed to top positions, and the AK Party is doing its best to push Turkey in the direction of Islam. The headscarf at universities is the thin end of the wedge, say secular Turks.

Note EU-Digest: A headscarf like a yamaka is a symbol of religious belief. If the constitution is changed , whereby the wearing of religious symbols is enforced and thereby indirectly undermines the secularity of the state, as seems to been the case in Turkey, it can only be seen as an attempt by the government of Mr. Erdogan to change the secular status of Turkey.