Turkey's secularists rally against headscarf reforms
ANKARA (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Turks rallied Saturday against a reform to allow women to wear Islamic headscarves at universities that they say threatens the secular order in the mainly Muslim country.
The demonstration, in the capital Ankara, vented anger at a parliamentary vote that saw an overwhelming majority of lawmakers approve a package of constitutional amendments that lift the on-campus ban.
"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," shouted the protestors, who packed a square in downtown Ankara, filling the main artery running through the heart of the city.
"We will defend the values of the republic," they chanted as a force of nearly 6,000 police officers, backed by helicopters, kept a close watch.
Television reports said there were as many as 200,000 people at the demonstration, dubbed the "Rally for Secularism and Independence", while a police officer estimated that there were less than 100,000 people.
The organisers -- more than 70 trade unions and non-governmental organizations -- said the demonstration attracted participants from other cities, notably the country's biggest city Istanbul.
A majority of the demonstrators, who were waving the red and white star and crescent flag of Turkey and bearing portraits of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, were women, including some who wore headscarves.
Some sported headbands that said "We are following your oath" alongside pictures of Ataturk, who insisted on a strict separation of state and religion when he set up the republic in 1923.
The demonstration targetted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which tabled the reform package. A similar demonstration last weekend drew 125,000 people.
"Tayyip, take your headscarf and stuff it," said the demonstrators in Ankara, calling on the government to resign.
"What is being done today in parliament is to eliminate the republican regime and replace it with bigotry. They want to destroy the secular democratic republic," Gokhan Gunaydin, from the organising committee, told the crowd.
Another organiser, Tuncay Ozkan -- the owner of a television network that broadcast the protest live -- accused the government of treason.
"I am warning them, changing the constitutional regime is a crime. They should be tried for treason," he said. "We are here to defend the country."
An elderly woman, wearing a headscarf with a red-and-white scarf around her neck, was among those that addressed the crowd.
"Long live the republic, damn sharia (law)," she said as she slipped her headcover back to reveal her hair. "My hair is out in the open, I have nothing to be ashamed of."
The protest ended peacefully some three hours after it started.
Similar demonstrations were held in five other cities all over the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The AKP, which is largely distrusted by secularists for its roots in a banned Islamist party, says the headscarf ban violates freedom of conscience and the right to education.
For the secular camp, the headscarf is a symbol of defiance against the strict separation of state and religion.
They say lifting the ban will put social pressure on women to cover up and pave the way for a gradual lifting of a similar ban in high schools and government offices.
Leading academics have also warned that lifting the ban on headscarves would lead to clashes on campuses and a boycott of classes by some female academics.
The ban on headscarves in universities was imposed after the 1980 military coup and has been implemented at varying degrees over the years, forcing many women to abandon their education and others to hide their headscarves under wigs to attend classes.
