Erdogan’s daughters studying in US to escape headscarf ban
PARIS: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday his two daughters were studying in the United States to escape a ban in his country on Islamic headscarves in public schools and universities. "I am a father who suffers. My two daughters are currently doing their university studies abroad simply because they can’t do them in Turkey while respecting their own beliefs," he told French television station LCI during a private visit to Paris.
"They are studying in the United States with their headscarves. One of my daughters is doing a doctorate and the other a bachelor’s degree," he said, according to a translation by the channel. Turkey, like France, upholds its strictly secular principles in public life by banning girls from wearing Islamic headscarves in state educational institutions. The prohibition has generated disapproval among some of the Muslims that make up 99 per cent of Turkey’s population.
Erdogan heads up the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is made up of many members supporting a more fundamentalist Islamic character for Turkey. The country’s powerful army generals oppose a slide away from secular traditions and have acted in the past to prevent such a shift. The Turkish leader noted that countries such as the United States, Britain and Germany have no law banning headscarves, but said a change to the law in his own country "is not currently on the agenda".
"At the moment, I am not someone who thinks it would be right to go in that direction," he said. Several EU countries, including France, have expressed reservations about Turkey’s bid to join their bloc, citing, among other factors, the religious differences and wariness that Europe’s secular nature might be undermined.
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2004-daily/21-10-2004/world/w13.htm
Thanks - very interesting!
"I am a father who suffers. My two daughters are currently doing their university studies abroad simply because they can’t do them in Turkey while respecting their own beliefs," Erdogan said, as everyone else in the room wondered why, if his daughters really respected that belief, they wouldn't just stay in a Turkish school.