ECHR to Re-Discuss the Headscarf Case

Published: 17-05-2005

ECHR to Re-Discuss the Headscarf Case
 

By Ali Ihsan Aydin
Published: Tuesday 17, 2005
zaman.com
 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will re-discuss the application concerning the headscarf ban administered in Turkish universities.

Concluding the case dated June 2004 that was opened by two Turkish students Leyla Sahin and Zeynep Tekin, the Court decided that the ban is not contrary to the European Human Rights Convention due to the special condition Turkey is found in. Sahin's lawyers had appealed the outcome of the case. The Grand Chamber of ECHR consisting of 17 judges will re-discuss the case tomorrow (May 18).

Sahin who was a student at Istanbul University Cerrahpasa School of Medicine and could not attend her lectures because of the headscarf ban, and had applied to the ECHR with the grounds that Turkey has violated article 9 of the Convention related to the freedom of conscience and religion in 1998. The Aegean University School of Nursing student Tekin, who had applied to the ECHR along with Sahin, had later on retracted her application. Sahin went on to complete her education in Vienna, Austria. Accepting the case after four years, the court held a public hearing on May 19, 2002. Sahin's lawyers claimed that the circular, which arranges the permission of students to enter the university campus, Istanbul University published as not "acceptable by law" and the headscarf ban is an intervention to the rights of freedom of religious expression Reminding of the special conditions found in Turkey, the Turkish lawyers representing Turkey, on the other hand, claimed that the headscarf ban is not a human rights violation, even if it is, it is lawful in the context of the second paragraph of the article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights which enables states "to limit the free expression of religion with obligatory precautions to protect the public order and the freedom of others".

In the verdict announced on June 29, 2004, the Court in Strasbourg found in favor of Turkey on the grounds of "special reasons" in the frame of the second paragraph of article 9. Therefore, it is commented," In a country like Turkey in which the majority of the population belong to a definite religion, the precautions taken by the universities to prevent some radical religious groups oppressing students who belong to another religion or who do not fulfill the requirements of that religion can be recognized."
 

Source: Zaman Daily