Turkish parliament lifts university headscarf ban

By Gareth Jones and Hidir Goktas

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

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, which has Islamist roots, hailed parliament's move as a triumph for democracy and justice in Turkey, a European Union candidate country where two thirds of women cover their heads.

"Our main aim is to end the discrimination experienced by a section of society just because of their personal beliefs," AK Party lawmaker Sadullah Ergin told private broadcaster NTV, adding that 80 percent of lawmakers had backed the reforms.

But underlining the powerful emotions the headscarf evokes, tens of thousands of people waving Turkish flags and chanting secularist slogans staged a protest rally against the changes just a few km (miles) from the parliament in central Ankara.

President Abdullah Gul is expected to approve the reform soon. The government must also amend a law governing the state body for higher education before the changes can take effect.

Turkey's powerful secular establishment, which includes army generals, judges and university rectors, sees the headscarf as a symbol of radical Islam and believe it threatens the country's secular order. Turkey is 99 percent Muslim.

Parliamentary speaker Koksal Toptan, -- the second ranking official in Turkey's state hierarchy after Gul -- said he hoped Turks could move beyond the divisions sparked by the reform.

"I hope this will be for the best of Turkey and hope it is done in a spirit of tolerance and reconciliation," Toptan said after lawmakers backed the changes by 411 for to 103 against.

Others were less optimistic, noting the main opposition CHP now plans to ask the Constitutional Court to block the reforms.

"The polarization of Turkish society will increase," said Murat Yetkin, a commentator for the liberal Radikal daily.

"Girls will start wearing the headscarf on campus from Monday," he said.

COMPLEX IDENTITY

The headscarf issue cuts to the heart of Muslim but secular, Western-oriented Turkey's complex identity.

Erdogan, a pious Muslim whose own wife and daughters cover their heads, has long argued that the headscarf ban is a violation of individual and religious freedoms.

But Turkey's old secular elite regards the headscarf ban as vital for maintaining a strict separation of state and religion.