February 07, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 28, 1429

ANKARA, Feb 6: Turkish lawmakers meet on Wednesday for a first-round vote on a constitutional reform to end a ban on Islamic headscarves in universities, a move that has pitted the government against secularists in the Muslim country.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Ruling Party (AKP) proposed the reform last week, arguing that allowing all women access to university education was essential in ensuring basic human rights in the country.

But secular opponents — among them the army, the judiciary and academics — say lifting the ban will undermine the strict separation of state and religion, one of the founding principles of the 84-year-old republic.

Many of them, who distrust the AKP because of its roots in a banned Islamist party, fear that the reform is part of a secret party agenda to introduce Islamic rule.

More than 125,000 people demonstrated against the project on Saturday at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded Turkey on the principle of secularism.

The AKP, which says it is committed to secularism, is expected to have no difficulty in pushing the reforms through the house thanks to backing from a nationalist opposition party, the Nationalist Action Party.

The two parties together have enough votes to secure the two-thirds majority of 367 votes in the 550-seat parliament to amend the constitution.

—AFP