The headscarf issue is a source of tension in predominantly Muslim Turkey. Almost two-thirds of Turkish women currently wear a headscarf and many of them stopped attending universities after the traditional Islamic covering was banned on campuses in 1989.
The bill, adopted on February 9 by the Turkish parliament, was vetoed on the grounds that it contravened the principles of secularism written into the country's constitution.
The headscarf bill was seen as the symbol of political Islam, which is a sensitive issue in Turkey. The Turkish opposition had suggested that through such legislation the ruling Justice and Development Party was seeking to increase the role of Islam in the Turkish secular state and that other bills, lifting a similar ban in high schools and government offices, would follow.
No comments from the ruling party are available so far.
The Constitutional Court is yet to decide on another suit filed by the Prosecutor General's office, stating that 71 Justice and Development Party officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul should be banned from politics for five years for mixing Islam and political issues.
