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Turkish women in police force allowed to wear headscarves

As critics continue to accuse the ruling Justice and Development Party of changing the nature of Turkey’s secular state, government supporters celebrate further relaxations of the earlier headscarf bans as more religious freedom.
Turkish riot police stand guard as Kurdish women (unseen) sit during a protest in downtown Istanbul, on August 29, 2011. The group of Kurdish women gathered to protest Turkish military air strikes against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq. Meanwhile, Turkish jets bombed bases in northern Iraq used by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a fresh campaign which has killed as many as 160 rebels since last week, the military said on August 29. AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BU

The Turkish government’s Official Gazette published Aug. 27 a new ruling according to which female police officers serving with the Turkish National Police are now allowed to wear headscarves as part of their uniform.

The ruling came into force immediately. On Aug. 30, Turkey's Victory Day, the photographs of a policewoman at Taksim Square in Istanbul and of a female officer who was part of the team guarding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the official celebrations in Ankara appeared in the media.

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