Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday proposed a nationwide vote on guaranteeing a woman’s right to wear a headscarf in state institutions, schools and universities.
The subject is particularly important for devout Muslim Erdogan, whose Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party lifted a long-standing ban on wearing the hijab in state institutions in 2013.
The headscarf issue has dominated political debate in the past few months ahead of general elections next year that are set to be one of the most serious challenges to Erdogan’s two-decade control of Turkey.
Photo: AFP
Erdogan often refers to the ban’s lifting as an example of how his party represents devout Muslim Turks against secular parties that ruled Turkey before his party’s arrival in 2002.
“If you have the courage, come, let’s put this issue to a referendum... Let the nation make the decision,” Erdogan said in remarks aimed at main opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Kilicdaroglu leads the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), established by the founder of the secular modern Turkish republic, former Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Kilicdaroglu had proposed a law to guarantee the right to wear a headscarf to alleviate any fears his party would reinstate the ban.
The headscarf was at the center of debates in the 1990s, but no party today proposes a ban in Muslim-majority Turkey.
“We had made mistakes in the past regarding the headscarf,” Kilicdaroglu said earlier this month. “It’s time to leave that issue behind us.”
Kilicdaroglu seeks to show religious voters they have nothing to fear from opting for his secular party next year, experts say.
In response, Erdogan proposed a constitutional change that would “soon” be sent for approval to the parliament where his party holds a small majority with his nationalist alliance partner.
Under Turkish law, changes require 400 lawmakers to pass without a need for a referendum and so the CHP would need to give its backing.
Otherwise, with 360 votes, a proposal can be put to the people.
“If this issue cannot be resolved in parliament, we will submit it to the people,” Erdogan said.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS