 Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday vetoed a government-sponsored law reducing penalties for unauthorized schools teaching the Qur'an, arguing that it infringed on the secularist principles of the Muslim-majority country. The provision was part of a package of amendments to the Turkish penal code, spearheaded by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a conservative movement with Islamist roots. The article, which would have enabled those convicted of opening and running illegal educational institutions to escape with a fine rather than a jail term of up to three years, triggered accusations that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is condoning religious fundamentalism.
| It sure looks like a camel's nose, doesn't it? |
Islamist activists in Turkey often run schools teaching the Qur'an, where — free from government control — they are accused of breeding religious hard-liners.
| Takes money to run a school. Golly, I wonder where the dough comes from? |
Sezer, a staunch secularist who has often clashed with the government, said in a statement that he had returned the law to Parliament for reconsideration because it "is encouraging the opening of illegal educational institutions." The principle of secularism "is the cornerstone of the values on which the Turkish Republic is founded," he said. "It is obvious that the country's unity in the future will be endangered by the perverted mindsets of citizens educated in illegal separatist and religious educational institutions," he said. The Parliament will now review the law, and if it passes it for a second time unchanged, Sezer has no other option but to approve it. He can, however, ask the Constitutional Court to annul the legislation. The controversial provision was introduced by the AKP as a last-minute change to a package of penal code amendments during a parliamentary debate last week. |