TURKEY: OPPOSITION CHALLENGES HEADSCARF AMENDMENTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000381 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: OPPOSITION CHALLENGES HEADSCARF AMENDMENTS IN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REF: A. ANKARA 350 ¶B. ANKARA 244 Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, for Reasons 1.4 (b ,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Opposition parties applied to Turkey's Constitutional Court February 27 to stay implementation and ultimately annul constitutional amendments designed to lift the headscarf ban at universities. The court is expected to rule quickly on the stay motion; a decision on annulling the amendments may take weeks. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) announced it will wait for the court's ruling before deciding whether to amend existing legislation governing attire on campuses. The court challenge comes amidst an increasingly bitter debate that so far has remained mostly a polarizing war of words. As rectors, students, politicians and the media trade barbs and accusations, confusion over whether or not the ban still exists is likely to continue until the Constitutional Court rules. The debate's primacy has been dampened, at least temporarily, by Turkey's ongoing cross-border operation into northern Iraq. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) The Republican People's Party (CHP),Democratic Left Party (DSP),and independent deputy Kamer Genc submitted the 50-page legal challenge to the Constitutional Court February 27, requesting a hold on implementing the recently adopted measure (ref A) and annulment of Articles 1 and 2 of the amendment package. The court is expected to rule shortly on the stay request; CHP deputy and former vice speaker Yilmaz Ates told us they expect a decision on the annulment motion within a month. The court's review is technically limited to procedural issues. AKP stated it would decide whether or not to amend Higher Education Board (YOK) Law Article 17, regulating attire on campus, after the court rules. Far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, AKP's ally in lifting the ban, urged parliament to amend Article 17 promptly to avoid prolonging the crisis atmosphere. YOK, Legal Experts Divided, Rectors in Revolt -------------- ¶3. (C) YOK Chairman Yusuf Ziya Ozcan's February 24 directive to rectors to lift the headscarf ban ignited a war of words, with YOK members, the Inter-University Board and many rectors insisting Article 17 must first be amended. Nine YOK members issued a statement February 25 accusing Ozcan, a recent Gul appointee, of violating the constitution's secularism provisions. Istanbul University rector Mesut Parlak threatened to file a petition against Ozcan with the public prosecutor, in line with Honorary Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Sabih Kanadoglu's earlier charge that Ozcan's directive was illegal. Ozcan shot back that he will take legal action against rectors who defy the constitutional amendments and his directive by upholding the ban. "The principles of the Republic cannot be used to limit individual rights and freedoms," Ozcan stated. Former prosecutor for the High Court of Appeals Ahmet Gundel concurs the rectors are committing a crime, citing Penal Code Article 112, which prohibits obstructing education. Testing the theory, two covered students who were denied entry to Kocaeli University February 26 filed a criminal complaint against Kocaeli's rector. ¶4. (SBU) The Inter-university Board, composed of all university rectors, university senate representatives, and one professor designated by the Turkish General Staff (TGS), invited Ozcan to appear at its February 28 extraordinary meeting. Akdeniz University Rector Mustafa Akaydin says they expect Ozcan to apologize and admit he has damaged the secularism principle of the state. ¶5. (C) The mixed signals are creating confusion on campuses. Since President Gul signed the amendments into law February 22, universities have followed a range of policies, with some convening their senates to consult on which course to take. Most are continuing to deny covered students entrance, a handful are allowing them in, and a few are pursuing a mixed policy (either allowing headscarves as far as the classroom, ANKARA 00000381 002 OF 002 or leaving it up to the individual faculties). A contact on Konya's Selcuk University faculty, where headscarves are permitted, expressed complete confidence in Ozcan's authority. Ankara's Bilkent University Rector Dogramaci told Ambassador he had directed that headscarved girls be admitted, though he expected to be vilified by his staff; he estimates perhaps 500 of 12,000 students may wear headscarves. A deputy rector of Eskisehir's Anadolu University, where the ban continues, worries this is the first time universities are defying the YOK chairman's instructions. Should the divisions within YOK continue, he predicts it will become impossible to direct academia. ¶6. (SBU) Contacts warn violent reactions on campus cannot be ruled out, resulting from media hype, confusion or provocations. To date, media report only a few minor incidents. In recent days, the headscarf issue's profile, while high, has taken a backseat to Turkey's ongoing cross-border operation into northern Iraq. Security guards at Gazi University's entrance reportedly beat Education Personnel Labor Union (Egitim Bir-Sen) officials who were seeking a meeting with university officials to find out why covered students were denied entrance. In another incident at Gazi, two students threatened a cameraman with a knife and broke his camera. At Samsun's May 19 University, a father scuffled with guards who refused his covered daughter entry. A turban-wearing physician at Haseki Hospital in Istanbul, angered by paparazzi, threw a serum bag at a photographer. Non-violent demonstrations are more visible this week as well; covered students and sympathizers staged a sit-in at Isparta's Suleyman Demirel University to protest the "arbitrary" deprivation of their constitutional rights. One professor at Ankara's Middle East Technical University (firmly maintaining the ban) claims that students are far more tolerant of lifting the ban than administrators. A senior professor recently told us she fervently hopes the Constitutional Court will "protect us" by upholding the ban. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON