1 Running heads: HEADSCARF BAN

Turkey has implemented a ban on the use of the Hijab, or the headscarf, in state-controlled areas like universities, government offices, and other public places. This has raised various reactions from the Turkish society and its international critics, most of which are not pleasant. The anti-Hijab movement violates the basic principal of universal human rights, and at the same time tends to destabilize the core principles of the Muslim faith, in a country that is over 99 % Muslim. Over two-thirds of Turkish women were put in a difficult position of having to choose between their right to be educated and employed vs. their right to follow their religion. At the heart of this apparent attack on religion lie certain political parties ’ desires to move ahead in the world economically while at the same time gaining advantage over other political parties