Women's Heads

Five months ago, a Turkish court sentenced Nuray Canan Bezirgan, 23, to six months in jail for "obstructing the education of others." Her crime: wearing a head scarf to her college final exams.

In the past two years, more than 25,000 women have been barred from Turkey's college campuses because they refused to remove the head scarves they wear as part of Muslim tradition, according to Turkish human rights groups. Hundreds of government employees have been fired, demoted or transferred for the same reason. And this school year, the government has extended the ban to Islamic religious schools, prompting some Muslim girls to drop out.

The modest head scarf has become the object of one of Turkey's most divisive struggles as the country seeks to join the European Union and the globalized economy

This problem leaves the country straining to balance greater democratic freedoms with preserving a secular state in a region of expanding Islamic influence.

Problem of democracy in Turkey

When the Turkish Armed Forces dissolved Parliament and took over the government on May 27, 1960, the Turkish Republic suffered its first violent crisis in its 38 years of existence. 
 Now, after a year and a half of military rule, Turkey is reverting to normal democratic processes. In the interim some attempts were made to perpetuate military government, but overwhelming public resistance nipped them in the bud. In a referendum on July 9 the Turkish people voted themselves a new constitution and on October 29 the Second Republic will be officially baptized. 
But neither the Turks nor the world should be deluded into complacency. The crisis is not over. True, the first hurdle has been overcome, but the Republic is burdened with many problems and the road ahead is steep and bumpy.

          

Turkey

Localization of Turkey

Turkey is best know as Republic of Turkey, it is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe.

*It capital is Ankara and the largest city is Istanbul      
*The official language is Turkish
*Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the European Economic Community

*The Anatolian peninsula , comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions in the world.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
the prime minister

*Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy
*The population of Turkey stood at 72.5 million with a growth rate of 1.45% per annum, based on the 2009 census.
*The most crowded city is Istanbul
*The low figures for women are mainly due to the traditional customs of the Arabs and Kurds who live in the southeastern provinces of the country

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul

*Turkey is a secular state with no official state religion, but About 99 % of the population is registered as Muslim