ISTANBUL: Turkey on Wednesday said it was lifting a historic ban on female officers wearing the Islamic headscarf in the officially secular country’s armed forces.

The military was the final Turkish institution where women were prohibited from wearing the head-scarf, after reforms by the Islamic-rooted government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that has allowed it to be worn in education, politics and the police.

The move, ordered by the defense ministry, applies to female officers working in the general staff and command headquarters and branches, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

“The problem with preventing the wearing of the headscarf has now been completely removed in Turkey,” Defense Minister Fikri Isik was quoted as saying by Anadolu.

“Those who wish can perform their duties while wearing the headscarf. The gendarmerie and the po-lice lifted this restriction and now the army has.”

According to the reform, women may wear the headscarf underneath their cap or beret so long as it is the same color as their uniform and does not cover their faces.

The reform, announced just under two months before Turkey votes in a crucial referendum on ex-panding Erdogan’s powers, will come into force once it is published in the official gazette.

It will also apply to female cadets, but it was not immediately clear if it applies to women on combat missions.

The ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), co-founded by Erdogan, has long pressed for the removal of restrictions on women wearing the headscarf.

Speaking to Turkish reporters at his offices in Ankara, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said he believed the removal of the ban was “very positive,” pro-government daily Yeni Safak said.

Army last holdout

 The military has usually been seen as the strongest bastion of secular Turkey and had been traditional-ly hostile to any perceived Islamization of state institutions.

But its political power has ebbed after the government increased control over the armed forces fol-lowing a failed military coup in July, blamed on followers of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey lifted a ban on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf, known as the hijab, on university cam-puses in 2010.

It allowed female students to wear the headscarf in state institutions from 2013 and in high schools in 2014.

Female MPs meanwhile began to wear headscarves in parliament from October 2013 when four fe-male AKP lawmakers wore the hijab in a session, in contrast to the scenes in 1999 when a headscarf-wearing MP from the now defunct Virtue Party was heckled out of the chamber.

Famously, the choosing of AKP co-founder Abdullah Gul as president in 2007 caused a political crisis as his wife wears the hijab—a controversy unthinkable when Erdogan took the top office in 2014. His wife Emine also wears the headscarf.

And in the latest key reform before the army’s move, Turkey in August allowed policewomen to wear the headscarf as part of their uniform.

At the time of controversy over lifting the ban in the police forces, pro-government media pointed out that several Western states had already granted female officers permission to wear the garment.

The military was until now seen as the last holdout on the issue, although civilians employed by the armed forces have been able to wear the hijab since last year.

There had been signs that the landmark reform was in the offing when press reports said that a wom-an, Merve Gurbuz, was undergoing training that could make her Turkey’s first hijab-wearing fighter pilot.

Highlighting the sensitivity of the issue, Turkish media seized heavily on recent reports that US actress Lindsay Lohan—who has met Erdogan and shown interest in Islam—was asked to take off her head-scarf at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Erdogan’s critics have long accused the president of eating away at the secular pillars of modern Tur-key as set up by its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when he established the Turkish republic in 1923.

The government rejects the suggestions, saying it allows freedom of worship for all Turkish citizens whatever their beliefs. </s> ISTANBUL - Turkey’s army is lifting a historic ban on female officers wearing the Islamic headscarf in the officially secular country, the state-run Anadolu news agency said Wednesday.

The move, ordered by the defence ministry, applies to female officers working in the general staff and command headquarters and branches, it said.

Women may wear the headscarf underneath their cap or beret so long as it is the same colour as their uniform and does not cover their faces.

The reform will come into force once it is published in the official gazette. It was not immediately clear if it applied to women on combat missions. It will also apply to female cadets.

The ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) co-founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long pressed for the removal of restrictions on women wearing the headscarf.

Turkey lifted a ban on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf, known as the hijab, on university campuses in 2010. It allowed female students to wear the headscarf in state institutions from 2013 and in high school in 2014.

And in the latest key reform before the army’s move, Turkey in August for the first time allowed policewomen to wear the Islamic headscarf as part of their uniform.

Erdogan’s critics have long accused the president of eating away at the secular pillars of modern Turkey as set up by its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when he established the Turkish republic in 1923.

The government rejects the suggestions, saying it is allowing freedom of worship for all Turkish citizens whatever their beliefs.

At the time of the controversy over the lifting of the ban on the headscarf in the police forces, pro-government media pointed out that several Western states have already granted female police officers permission to wear the headscarf.

The army has traditionally been seen as the strongest bastion of the secular state and had been traditionally hostile to any perceived Islamisation of state institutions.

But its political power has ebbed after the government increased control over the armed forces in the wake of the failed July 15 coup bid blamed on followers of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. </s> ANKARA: Turkey on Wednesday lifted a ban on wearing headscarf for cadets, women officers and non-commissioned officers of the military.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) are the last institution which has lifted the ban.

Under the Ministry of National Defense’s new uniform regulation, now non-commissioned, female officers and cadets of Turkish army, navy and air force now can wear headscarves under their caps or berets matching with their respective uniforms. Besides, students at military schools can also wear headscarf after the removal of this ban.

The new uniform regulation will be effective after the Official Gazette formally publish it.

Last year in November, the Turkish military had removed a ban on headscarf for women civilian personnel.

Also, male civilians serving the Turkish military were allowed to grow beard and not to wear a tie during summer season. </s> Turkey will lift a ban on female officers wearing the Islamic headscarf in the officially secular country’s armed forces, according to state media.

The military was the final Turkish institution where women were prohibited from wearing the headscarf, after reforms by the Islamic-rooted government under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that have allowed it to be worn in education, politics and the police.

The move, ordered by the defence ministry, applies to female officers working in the general staff and command headquarters and branches, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday.

Women may wear the headscarf underneath their cap or beret as long as it is the same colour as their uniform and does not cover their faces.

The reform will come into force once it is published in the official gazette. It will also apply to female cadets, but it was not immediately clear if it applied to women on combat missions.

The ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP), co-founded by Erdoğan, has long pressed for the removal of restrictions on women wearing the headscarf.

Speaking to Turkish reporters at his offices in Ankara, Binali Yıldırım, the prime minister, said he believed the removal of the ban was “very positive”, pro-government daily Yeni Safak said.

The military has traditionally been seen as the strongest bastion of secular Turkey and had been hostile to any perceived Islamisation of state institutions.

But its political power has ebbed after the government increased control over the armed forces since the failed military coup in July, blamed on followers of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Turkey lifted a ban on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf on university campuses in 2010. It allowed female students to wear it in state institutions from 2013 and in high school in 2014.

Female MPs, meanwhile, began to wear headscarves in parliament from October 2013 when four female AKP lawmakers wore it in a session, in contrast to the scenes in 1999 when a headscarf-wearing MP from the now-defunct Virtue party was heckled out of the chamber.

And in the latest key reform before the army’s move, Turkey in August allowed female police officers to wear the headscarf as part of their uniform.

At the time of the controversy over lifting the ban in the police forces, pro-government media pointed out that several western states had already granted female officers permission to wear the garment.

The military was until now seen as the last holdout on the issue, although civilians employed by the armed forces have been able to wear the hijab since 2016.

There had been signs that the landmark reform was in the offing when press reports said that a woman, Merve Gurbuz, was undergoing training that could make her Turkey’s first hijab-wearing fighter pilot.

Erdoğan’s critics have long accused the president of eating away at the secular pillars of modern Turkey as set up by its founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk when he established the Turkish republic in 1923.

The government rejects the suggestions, saying it allows freedom of worship for all Turkish citizens whatever their beliefs. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Headscarves are now much more widely seen in Turkey

A ban on female army officers in Turkey wearing the Muslim headscarf has been lifted by the government.

The military is the last Turkish institution to see the ban removed. It has long been seen as the guardian of Turkey's secular constitution.

Wearing headscarves in public institutions was banned in the 1980s.

But Turkey's Islamist-leaning President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, argues that the ban is an illiberal vestige of the past.

The issue has been controversial in Turkey for many years.

Secularists regard the headscarf as a symbol of religious conservatism and have accused President Erdogan of pushing an Islamist agenda, converting many public schools into religious ones as part of his pledge to raise "a pious generation".

Over the past decade the ban has been removed for schools, universities, the civil service and in August for the police.

The BBC's Mark Lowen, in Istanbul, says the secular side of Turkey now feels largely ostracised, accusing Mr Erdogan of governing just for his conservative, religious support base.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Islamic groups have lobbied hard for wider acceptance of headscarves

Image copyright AP Image caption Women in Turkey's police and security forces may now wear headscarves

The conservatives respond that they were long seen as second-class citizens and the headscarf is an expression of individual liberties.

Our correspondent says that Turkey's religious-secular divide is as old as the republic itself, but is now arguably deeper than ever.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hala Hindawi explains why she likes to wear a hijab. Sometimes

The fall and rise of the headscarf

Witness: Turkey's headscarf row

Watch: Indonesian women talk about fashion and the hijab

The new rules apply to regular women military officers, non-commissioned officers and female cadets. They will be allowed to wear a headscarf under their caps or berets as long as they are the same colour as their uniforms and are not patterned, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The military's opposition to the government's move has been weakened after President Erdogan's supporters increased their authority over the armed forces following the failed 15 July coup last year.

The changes will come into effect once they are published in the official gazette.

Turkey has had a secular constitution with no state religion since 1920.

Most people in Turkey are Sunni Muslims. </s> Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday approved a draft law that would prevent civil servants, judges and soldiers from wearing Islamic full-face veils at work.

Germany's ruling coalition said in a statement said that a "religious or ideological covering of the face contradicts the neutrality required of state functionaries."

The law would also require women to show their face during identity checks.

The law still has to be approved by the upper house, the Bundesrat, before coming into effect.

"Integration also means that we should make clear and impart our values and where the boundaries lie of our tolerance towards other cultures," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. "The draft law we have agreed on makes an important contribution to that."

5 clothing items you probably didn't know have been banned Jeans in East Germany In the beginning, jeans were frowned upon in East Germany. "No entrance with jeans" was written at the doors to many clubs. And some students were actually sent home if they appeared in class wearing jeans. In the end, the regime had to give in and party leader Erich Honecker is said to have ordered a million Levi's in order to meet the demand in the country.

5 clothing items you probably didn't know have been banned The fez in Turkey Until the 1920s, the fez was a common piece of headgear in Turkey. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of Turkey, President Atatürk did not want to see the hat in public because it was considered a symbol of old times. In the 1930s, the fez almost completely disappeared. The ban still exists today, but is no longer enforced.

5 clothing items you probably didn't know have been banned The kilt in Scotland Nowadays it is an inseparable part of Scotland. But the kilt was banned for some time in the 18th century by the English. They didn't like that the Scots wore the traditional skirt as a sign of resistance and patriotism in ever burgeoning feuds with London. In 1747, the government introduced a kilt ban that lasted 37 years.

5 clothing items you probably didn't know have been banned Lingerie in Russia Still prohibited in Russia is underwear containing less than six percent cotton. That means lingerie made of lace, velvet or silk. The law has been in force for two years. The official reason is that high synthetic content is bad for people's health. More likely, however, is that the measure is meant to keep foreign imports out. Until then, most lingerie sold in Russia was made abroad.

5 clothing items you probably didn't know have been banned Hoodies in the US and UK At least in some places, wearing so-called hoodies is prohibited. For example, in the Bluewater shopping center in Kent. There you can still buy hoodies, but wearing them was forbidden 10 years ago. In the US, many schools already banned the hoodie from the classroom, and in the state of Oklahoma a Republican senator wanted to prohibit it completely. Author: Antje Binder / rb



Fifth country to ban

If the law is passed, Germany would become the fifth European country to ban or partially ban the wearing of the burqa and niqab, after France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Bulgaria.

Austria and Norway are also working towards a ban.

The approval came after Chancellor Angela Merkel's December call for a ban on full-face Muslim veils "wherever legally possible". The new law fell short of demands by right-wing parties for a total ban in public places, as in France.

Merkel is facing a federal election in five months, with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) losing some support to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).

In February, Merkel's Bavarian CSU sister party said it would ban the full-face veil in schools, universities, government workplaces and polling stations.

Package of security measures

During the same late night session, the Bundestag approved a package of security measures aimed at preventing extremist attacks.

New security measures includes the court-approved use of electronic ankle bracelets for people deemed a security threat. Another law is aimed at helping national and state police forces pool their data in a new integrated IT system.

A separate measure implemented European Union rules on the mandatory sharing and retention of data on flight passengers.

Another measure meant physical attacks on police, emergency services and military personnel on duty would be punished with up to five years' jail. </s> Tunisia's prime minister announced on Friday that women will be banned from wearing the niqab inside state buildings, after a militant allegedly used a face veil as a disguise before detonating a bomb belt.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed a notice "banning access to public administrations and institutions to anyone with their face covered... for security reasons", his office said on Friday.

It comes after double suicide bombings in Tunis on 27 June, which left two dead and seven wounded.

The wearing of the niqab and hijab are controversial subjects in Tunisia, where strict laws against outward expressions of Muslim religious identity were in place for decades.

 

 Former presidents Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and Habib Bourguiba clamped down on Islamic dress during their rule due to their strict secular ideologies.

After the 2011 revolution these laws were relaxed but in 2014 the interior ministry instructed police to step up supervision of the wearing of the niqab as part of anti-terrorism measures.

The Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights on Friday urged the government to repeal the nijab ban as soon as "a normal security situation returns in Tunisia".

There were calls for a ban on the niqab in 2015 following a series of bloody militant attacks on tourism sites and other targets.

This article has been adapted from its original source. </s> Tunis, July 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Jul, 2019 ) :Tunisia's premier on Friday banned the niqab Muslim face covering for women in government offices, citing security concerns after attacks in the North African country.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed a government circular "banning access to public administrations and institutions to anyone with their face covered... for security reasons," his office said.

The ban on the niqab, which covers the entire face apart from the eyes, comes at a time of heightened security following a June 27 double suicide bombing in Tunis that left two dead and seven wounded.

The interior minister instructed police in February 2014 to step up supervision of the wearing of the niqab as part of anti-terrorism measures, to prevent its use as a disguise or to escape justice.

Reactions to the ban were mixed in the Tunisian capital.

"They have the right to prohibit (the niqab) given the events we are currently witnessing," said Ilhem, a young Tunisian woman.

"But in the end, it remains an individual freedom," she added.

Lina questioned "why the woman must make sacrifices every time there are security measures to be taken".

The Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights urged that the measure be only temporary.

"We are for the freedom to dress (as one pleases), but today with the current situation and the terrorist threats in Tunisia and across the region we find justifications for this decision," the league's president Jamel Msallem told AFP.

He said that the ban should be repealed as soon as "a normal security situation returns in Tunisia".

The niqab and other outward shows of Islamic devotion were not tolerated under the regime of longtime autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali but have made a comeback since he was toppled in Tunisia's 2011 revolution.

After bloody attacks in 2015 that targeted security forces and tourists, there were calls in Tunisia to re-impose the ban. </s> (CNN) The Austrian government has announced plans to ban the full-face Islamic veil in public, part of a raft of measures to contain the rise of the far-right Freedom Party.

The plan -- which would ban the burqa, niqab and other face-covering veils -- echoes calls that German Chancellor Angela Merkel made last month for a similar ban in Germany.

It also comes amid growing concerns of harassment against Muslims around the world following US President Donald Trump's temporary ban on citizens from some Muslim-majority countries entering the United States.

The Social Democratic and Austrian People's parties, which rule in a coalition, released a 35-page document outlining their vision for Austria as an "open society that requires open communication."

"Full-face veils in public places are the opposite of that and will be banned," the document said.

Any ban would need the Austrian Parliament's approval to be enforced.

The document says that Austria was introducing the reforms to ensure the "state presents itself in a world-open and religiously neutral manner," adding that civil servants in uniform as well as judges and prosecutors should show religious neutrality in the way they dress in public, effectively banning them from wearing Islamic headscarves.

The announcement was met with a backlash from Islamic groups and Austrian Muslims, who slammed the plan as discriminatory.

"It is saddening. This is a setback for Austria, for our democracy and for our understanding of diversity," said Amani Abu Zahra from the Islamic religion department at the University for Teacher Education of Christian Churches.

Tarafa Baghajati, chair of the Austrian Muslim Initiative, said that while he didn't necessarily agree with the full-face veil, he considered an outright ban "counterproductive."

Baghajati said he found the "de facto headscarf ban" on civil servants more problematic.

"This is state-run discrimination against Muslim women that violates the constitution and anti-discrimination laws," he said.

The government will also try to force asylum-seekers and some migrants to sign an "integration contract and a declaration of values" and agree to "strict sanctions" if the contract is violated. It will seek to reinforce border controls, increase police presence and tighten asylum procedures.

The document is an 18-month plan that will take the government, led by Chancellor Christian Kern, up to the next elections, likely to be held in 2018.

The ruling parties are facing a rapid rise in popularity of the far-right, Euroskeptic Freedom Party, which has campaigned against what it sees as the Islamization of the country, calling for "zero migration" and a boost to border security.

France became the first European country to ban the full-face veil officially in 2010. Bans are also in place in Belgium and some parts of Switzerland, while other European countries have debated the issue.
The Turkish government lifts the ban prohibiting female army officers from wearing a Hijab. The military is the last Turkish institution to end the ban.