ANKARA Turkey's pro-religious Virtue Party (FP) on Tuesday accused President Suleyman Demirel and outgoing Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of inflaming the ongoing debate over allowing women with headscarves into parliament. Both the president and Ecevit have agitated the whole issue through their comments, FP Chairman Recai Kutan told a press conference. This was Kutan's first statement following Sunday's uproar in parliament when FP Deputy Merve Kavakci entered the assembly wearing a headscarf to attend a swearing-in ceremony.

Deputies of Ecevit's Democratic Left Party reacted strongly, calling on Kavakci to leave the hall, while Ecevit saw the move as a challenge to the state's basic principles. In the face of protests which forced a 45-minute adjournment, Kavakci left the General Assembly without taking the oath which would enable her to take part in legislative work. On Sunday, the nation's wish has been ignored in parliament, Kutan said.

We will continue our struggle on democratic and legal platforms until Turkey is cleansed of bans. Turkey's secular establishment forbids women from wearing headscarves in public offices, schools and universities on the grounds that they represent a political form of Islam which threatens the separation of religious and state affairs. Islamists, on the other hand, argue that the ban is a violation of human rights and should be abolished.

(AFP)