ECHR Rules In Favor Of Headscarf Ban In Turkish Schools

STRASBOURG (CIHAN) - The European Court of Human Rights upheld the headscarf ban in a case presented by Leyla Sahin and Zeynep Tekin against the Turkish Higher Education Board (YOK). The two were banished from Turkish universities for wearing headscarves.
Attorneys of Sahin and Tekin said that the use of the headscarf is a religious obligation and the headscarf ban in Turkey is an ideological application.
Leyla Sahin left her university due to the headscarf ban issued by the Turkish Higher Education Board (YOK), when she was student at the Faculty of Medicine of Istanbul University in 1998. Sahin continued her education at the Medicine Faculty of Vienna University. Zeynep Tekin was banned from the Nursing College of Ege University due to her headscarf.
Sahin and Tekin had appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to halt the headscarf where they asserted that, "The headscarf ban in the Turkish schools forces students to choose between their religion and education and this leads to discrimination between `believers and nonbelievers`. Turkey is violating the 14th article of ECHR that prohibits discrimination and the 10th article concerning free speech with the headscarf ban".
Zeynep Tekin stated that she drew up her application to the ECHR with her attorneys. The case opened by Sahin was the first headscarf case from Turkey accepted by ECHR. The Court had previously rejected the applications of Senay Karaduman and Lamiye Bulut.