By NNN-KUNA
Ankara : The Turkish parliament agreed Wednesday to constitutionally amends two articles to cancel the ban on women wearing the Islamic headscarves or Hijab in universities.
The lawmakers held a heated debate over the issue which pitted members of the ruling party against opposition parties. However votes by the ruling Justice and Development Party and the National Movement Party were enough to push through the amendment since both parties have 410 lawmakers on their side out of a total of 550 in the parliament, said the Turkish news agency- Anadol.
A series of recent demonstrations by the public belied the tendencies of secularists and socialists and nationalists to ban the wearing of Hijab in public institutions, such as government schools and universities.
The Hijab issue is a sensitive one in this society where the Islamically-inclined ruling party is at loggerheads with the secular army and court circuit judges who basically espouse the principle of separation of state and religion.