http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=174111&bolum=100

A report presented to US President Barack Obama has added Turkey to a watch list of countries where people's right to worship as they please or not to worship at all are at risk.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said Turkey's problem was its interpretation of secularism, which has "resulted in violations of religious freedom for many of the country's citizens, including members of majority and, especially, minority religious communities." The report questioned the Constitutional Court's decision to overrule a constitutional amendment to let women wear Islamic headscarves at universities that was passed by a wide majority in Parliament.

Despite the government's efforts to lift the long-standing ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities by amending the Constitution in 2008, the Constitutional Court annulled the legislation and the ban remains in effect. In the same period, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was faced with a closure case filed by Supreme Court of Appeals' Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya mainly due to its move to lift the headscarf ban.