Erdogan should be hung for lifting hijab ban, Turkish opposition says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's parliament lifted a ban last Saturday on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf (hijab) at university, a landmark decision that some Turks fear will undermine the foundations of their secular state.



An estimated 10,000 people, including various civil society organizations, joined in a march and protest in Izmir against proposed changes to the Turkish Constitution backed by the ruling AKP and the opposition MHP which would lift current bans against the headscarf in Turkish universities.



The protest was organized in Izmir's Karsikaya district by the Patriotic Citizens Platform, and was titled "The Secular Republic March Against the Hijab." The large masses taking part in the protest met up first in front of the gravesite of Ataturk's mother, Zubeyde Hanim, and marched from there to the Karsikaya main boulevard, Hurriyet reports.



The headscarf ban in universities dates back to the 1980s but was significantly tightened in 1997 when army generals, with public support, ousted a government they deemed too Islamist.



Deniz Baykal, the leader of a Turkish left-wing party, said Erdogan "should be hung for violating the Constitution."



It's worth noting that Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was accused of violating the Constitution and hung by the military in 1961.