"Once More, Headscarves
Published: 4/11/2006
BY OKTAY EKSI
HURRIYET- I think the final ruling made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) about Leyla Sahin, who was expelled by Istanbul University for wearing an Islamic headscarf, wasn’t instructive enough. According to reporter Nur Batur, the United Nations’ Commission on Discrimination against Women made a decision in the same direction. Batur stated that the commission decided that a petition from Rahime Kayhan, who lost her position at school because of her headscarf, wasn’t acceptable. Actually, in Turkey, Kayhan went to all the appropriate offices to seek her rights before making this application, and all of them indicated that she couldn’t go to school with this headscarf and teach. They added that this wasn’t a matter of freedom of religion or conscience, but that she was aiming to put pressure on others’ freedom of religion and conscience. However, maybe, the wish to force the society to harmonize with her own rules dominated, instead of complying with the rules of the democratic society in which she lives."
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