Head Scarfs for Female Students Allowed at Istanbul University in Turkey
ISTANBUL: Freshman Busra Gungor won't have to wear a wig to cover her headscarf, as many pious relatives and friends did to avoid getting kicked off campus. In a landmark decision, Turkey's Higher Education Board earlier this month ordered Istanbul University, one of the country's biggest, to stop teachers from expelling from classrooms students who do not comply with a ban on the headscarf. It was the latest twist in a long political and legal tussle in Turkey between those who see the garment as a symbol of their faith and those who view it as a challenge to the country's secular constitution. "I was ready to wear the wig, just like my cousin did," said Gungor, a 18-year-old student wearing a pastel-colored headscarf. "This is about my freedom. I don't see why my headscarf should be seen as a threat to anybody." The debate is not unique to Turkey -- France and Kosovo, for example, ban headscarves in public schools, and parts of Germany bar teac...