Turkish parties agree details of headscarf reform

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's ruling AK Party and an opposition party have agreed details of a plan to ease a ban on women wearing the Muslim headscarf in universities, a move that has drawn stiff criticism from the country's secular elite.

Turkey bans the headscarf in universities as a symbol of political Islam but the religiously oriented AK Party has long wanted to relax the restriction and has won crucial backing from the nationalist MHP, which it needs to amend the constitution.

Financial markets are closely watching the plans, fearful of a revival of tensions in the European Union candidate between the government and the secular elite. The headscarf issue helped spark early elections last year after mass secular rallies.

Under the details agreed by the two parties late on Monday, women at universities are permitted to cover their heads by tying the headscarf in the traditional way beneath the chin, newspapers said on Tuesday.

The ban would remain on the wrap-round headscarf associated with political Islam as well as on other forms of Islamic dress such as the burkha, which conceals the whole body.

"The person's face must remain open and the headscarf must be tied beneath the chin," said the pro-government Sabah daily.

The ban will continue for teachers and women working in public offices. Underlining the acute sensitivity of the issue, the AK Party is probing one of its deputies for saying eventual goal was to lift the ban entirely. The MP could face party disciplinary proceedings.

The relatively modest reform seems aimed at meeting the concerns of some of the secular elite, which includes army generals, judges and university rectors, who in the past have strongly opposed any relaxation of the headscarf ban.

Members of Turkey's judiciary and the rectors have already criticised the planned reform as unconstitutional and damaging to "social peace". But the army, which sees itself as the ultimate guarantor of the secular order, has made no comment.