TURBAN & SCARF

Zagreb, October 14, 2010

As an expected maneuver, upon the criminal complaint with respect to the statement of  The Higher Education Institution’s President Özcan providing that “the student will in no way be dismissed from the class”  the Prosecutor Tanrıöver has decided to a verdict of non-prosecution with the justification “Those who are covered by turbans and scarves are also human beings. All of the human beings have the right for reading and education.”
                                                                                                                                                                                          
In this case, since the Prosecutor would not be entitled to present a scientific evidence that “those who are covered by chador, veil and even burga are not animals”, there should not be any inconvenience for their registration with the universities and even for their employment in public institutions since “working right” is an universal right.
 
Since Özcan as well as Tanrıöver do not argue that the scarf and turban are not “a religious requirement”, the prohibition of the above mentioned outfits would not be appropriate by claiming that they are religious outfits.
 
As far as the objections with respect to the security concerns, we are in the opinion that they should not be appreciated. In the century we are living, Elhamdürillah !, it is possible to determine the identity of any person without having seen her/his face. Everywhere, there are systems which recognize the “iris”, or authenticate the identity by “fingerprint” if the person is not willing to show her/his eye to infidel. The government’s duty should be to the extent that such systems are delivered and situated in the required places. Since Holly Quran refers to the century (modern times) as a witness, it is obvious that the mentioned systems are permissible.
 
The question with respect to the clarification of who will bear the costs associated with this remains. However, there should be a response for this too.
 
As it is known, the disabled are secured by the constitution and the government aid is required for all of the disabled persons regardless of “their physical or mental disability”.

Cordially yours  
 
Hakan HANLI, Esq.
Senior Attorney-at-Law
Member of Ankara & Brussels Bars
International & European Law, Ph.D
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