Turkish university tutor bans headscarf at her lectures February 20, 2012 - 11:12 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A French language lecturer from the prestigious Boğaziçi University has sent an email to her students in which she asked women who wear headscarves to take them off during her lectures, claiming she cannot identify them when they wear one. According to Today’s Zaman, lecturer Aslı Tarkan stated in her email that she wants the headscarf-wearing students to attend her classes appearing as they do in the photographs they submitted in their Undergraduate Placement Examination (LYS) application. (Before 2010, students were not allowed to submit a photo in which they were wearing a headscarf.) Tarkan is known for not allowing students wearing a hat to attend her class. Hundreds of students who see Tarkan's attitude toward headscarf-wearing students as a violation of individual rights and freedom expressed their concern on the social media websites Twitter and Facebook. The Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) in July 2011 published a Higher Education Guidebook on its website, and the guidebook does not include the condition that the LYS photo must depict a woman without the headscarf. According to the guidebook, students who successfully pass their LYS have to submit their university preference forms through the Internet or high school directorships. The condition that “the photo must be taken within six months of the application date and must be headscarf-less” as stated in the previous guidebook has been removed, and the guidebook now only mentions what the dimensions of the photo must be. In Turkey, the headscarf ban has been a matter of contention. Its use was banned on university campuses shortly after the 1997 post-modern coup on the grounds it poses a threat to the secular order. The ban was recently lifted. However, state institutions will not hire headscarf-wearing women, while they are also denied employment in most private companies, although there is no law prohibiting the use of headscarves in private businesses. The ban on the headscarf is mostly attributed to Turkey's “secular identity”; however, nearly 70 percent of Turkish women wear the headscarf.   Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads.   Partner news |  Latest news Erdogan wants “realistic road map” for relations with Armenia  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a “new realistic road map” for relations with Armenia.Armenia-Azerbaijan: Experts launch work on determining coordinates Expert groups from the countries started the process of determining the coordinates based on geodetic measurements.Yerevan says did not expect CSTO in peacekeeping role Pashinyan has declared that the CSTO would be expected to come to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border as an ally of ArmeniaHenrikh Mkhitaryan wins Serie A title with Inter Inter Milan midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan admits that the team have long been imagining clinching Serie A against AC Milan. |
