London, UK, February 6 2008 – A high level delegation of women from the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain will deliver a letter to the Turkish embassy in London on Thursday morning [February 7th 2008] regarding the recent proposal to review the ban on the wearing of the hijab in universities in Turkey. The debate reflects the growing desire of Muslim women in Turkey to live their lives by Islam.

The letter notes that the "hijab ban in universities, schools and public institutions has had an enormous impact on the lives of Muslim women in Turkey, denying them a right to an education and employment in the public sector" and notes that "while secularism espouses personal freedom and claims to liberate Muslim women from lives of oppression, in reality it has treated them in an authoritarian fashion, dictating any dress code other than that which Islam obliges."

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz, the women’s media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain said "While the Turkish government struggles to conform to the secular credentials of the European Union, many of its women are moving towards lives based upon Islamic credentials."

"It beggars belief that in a country that is 99% Muslim, a woman is permitted to expose her body or even commit adultery while being unable to dress according to the basic tenets of Islam. It is not Islam that is a barrier to the active participation of the woman in public life but fundamentalist secularism. It says a lot about the intellectual weakness of those to uphold Turkey’s secular ideology that they feel threatened by a square metre of cloth?"

 

"The women’s chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain stands in support of their Muslim sisters in Turkey who wish to see the hijab ban lifted from all institutions across the country, and to see a return of justice, honour and dignity for all under the Islamic Khilafah. It is only the Islamic Khilafah system that can ensure that women will be valued and able to engage in society as human beings not as commodities."

The delegation will visit the Turkish Embassy [Address: 43 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PA] in London on the morning of the 7th February 2008.

[Ends]

Notes to Editors:

1) Download the letter from www.hizb.org.uk

2) High resolution pictures are available on request