November 23, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 17, 1423

ANKARA, Nov 22: Turkey’s new speaker of parliament, Bulent Arinc, created an uproar on Thursday when he attended an official ceremony with his wife, who was wearing a headscarf.

“The headscarf at the pinnacle of the state”, the headline ran in the mass-circulation Hurriyet daily under a photo of Arinc’s wife, Munevver, who became the first headscarved woman to take part in a state ceremony.

“The headscarf in state protocol,” said Milliyet daily.

Arinc — a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has its roots in a banned religious movement — was elected parliamentary speaker on Tuesday by a majority of the 550 MPs in the house.

The day after his election as speaker, Arinc and his wife, her head covered by the scarf, attended an official departure ceremony at Ankara airport for President Necdet Sezer who flew to Prague for the NATO summit.

Deniz Baykal, the leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), accused Arinc of creating a “fait accompli” and forcing the issue of the headscarf.

“If we bring this issue on to the agenda by fait accompli and through imposition in a hurry, we would only lead to new tensions and difficulties,” he was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.—AFP