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Turkish Daily News printed the report below.

So….. In defending the move to allow women wear headscarf in public places, the Turkish President says that Turkey will not be like Malaysia, eh? If that does not make Muslims in Malaysia think, I don’t know what will.

Malaysians who want to know more about Turkey should also click here.

President defends government’s move to lift headscarf ban
Thursday, September 20, 2007

President Gül assures skeptics that Turkey will not be like Malaysia where special police units are formed to punish people who don’t fast during Ramadan. ‘Turkey is a country negotiating with the EU,’ says Gül

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

President Abdullah Gül late Tuesday defended the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) decision to lift the headscarf ban in universities and tried to assure skeptics that this move will not make Turkey like Malaysia where Islamic rules dominate social life.

“It is much better for (women who cover up) to go to university than to stay home and be isolated from social life,” Gül told reporters in northern Cyprus.

Gül, who was from the AKP until he became head of state in a crisis-ridden election last month, also pushed for an end to the ban. “We have to see the issue from the point of individual freedoms and as a result of modernity,” daily Milliyet quoted Gül as saying yesterday.

Gül played down concerns that lifting the ban might result in women who do not wear the headscarf being put under social pressure by conservatives to cover up.

“We are people who have lived side by side in peace … There can be both girls who cover up and who do not in the same family. This is our social structure and we have lived like that for years,” he said.

Turkey is not Malaysia

Respected sociologist Prof. Şerif Mardin warned the government that Turkey could become like Malaysia if lifting the ban would create pressure on uncovered women. “Those who are talking about Malaysia are not really aware of that country. Turkey will not become Malaysia,” Gül said.

He said that Turkey is a country negotiating for full membership with the European Union and added, “we would be conflicting with today’s world if we grant freedoms only to certain groups. Turkey’s priority is to continue democratic and economic reforms and to complete its negotiations with the EU successfully. If there are still such fears in Turkey, I doubt it,” he said.

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