Discussion of Court’s Headscarf Ban
Posted on October 27th, 2008 by Jenny White
See this site for a legal discussion by one of TUrkey’s most renowned Constitutional scholars of the Turkish Constitutional Court’s recently published justification for its decision on June 5, 2008 to cancel law #5735, which would have amended several articles of the Constitution and allowed female students to attend university while wearing headscarves….
(I have been unable to find an English-language version of the court decision and rationale.)
Thanks for the link, Jenny.
I couldn’t stand reading this “constitutional scholar” past a couple of paragraphs unfortunately. It’s hogwash. When one constitutional change is struck down –for it is found in violation of that constitution’s fundamental articles– you don’t conclude that the only way for amendments from then on is a coup or some war of sorts. That’s one way to be sure. But that this scholar and countless other talking heads can’t imagine other ways is their shortcoming, not the constitution’s or the court’s fault.
Nihat, if you had read it it all the way through you’d have seen this concluding gem:
Otherwise, Turkey will continue to be listed as “semi-democracy” or “partially free” by the international rating agencies such as Freedom House.
Where do I start? ‘International rating agency’? Arguing for Turkish civil liberties by reference to the ‘oh but what would the foreigners say?’ approach? Oh never mind.
You are not the only one. Should you find an English-;anguage version of the decision, I would love to have it. Thanks!
Bulent, thank God, I haven’t reached that far to that conclusion. Or my head would have exploded.