Turkey Lifts Oath of National Allegiance, Headscarf Ban

Only one week after PM Erdogan’s declaration of new reforms, the Turkish government has official lifted the daily reciting national allegiance in elementary schools and headscarf ban in the state offices. New regulations were published in the Official Gazette and will take effect immediately.  

The aforementioned rule on the daily oaths was removed within the deletion of Education Ministry Elementary School Regulations Article 12. 

Drafted by the former education minister Reşit Galip, the daily reciting - Andimiz in Turkish - had been in effect since 1933.  

Turkey’s decades-long headscarf ban was lifted within a change of regulations in the dress code law for state workers. 

According to that, the government removed the “Regulation on the dress code of state institution workers”. 

The extend of headscarf ban was limited to the staff of Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish Police, with the amendment of “those who must wear a uniform” to “those who work at security institutions, as well as court judges, prosecutors and Turkish Armed Forces staff on the Article 6 of the same regulation. (YY/BM)

* Click here to read the original article in Turkish.