Elections could be solution for headscarf issue, Turkish PM says

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said elections and a new Constitution will be crucial in providing a solution to the headscarf problem in Turkey.

“I consider the general elections and a new Constitution important to solving the headscarf problem. I think that with the new Constitution, the problem will be solved,” Erdoğan told reporters prior to his departure for South Korea on Wednesday.

“I am not inclined to make an individual statement on the definition of freedoms, as my belief in freedoms is different. We will prepare the new Constitution after the elections. Afterwards, there will be no need for such statements,” Erdoğan said, responding to journalists’ questions on First Lady Hayrünnisa Gül’s remarks on the headscarf in London.

Gül had said it was not acceptable for girls to wear the headscarf in elementary schools.

Asked to comment on whether a caricature portraying the main opposition party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in dancers’ clothing was acceptable within the limit of freedom of the press, Erdoğan said the cartoonists should be asked themselves.

“You didn’t say anything when the prime minister was portrayed as a cat and a dog. You were defending those at that time, saying that cartoonists do such things,” Erdoğan said. “The question should be asked to cartoonists. I can’t learn the limits of their freedom.”

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=pm-indicates-elections-for-solution-of-headscarf-problem-2010-11-10.