The students from the Bosphorus University organized a “Headscarf Action” in front of Galatasaray High School on Sunday, June 12.

In their press release, the students said, “We, the university students and the various non-governmental organizations, got together because of the recent state and regime crisis. Primarily, we protest the headscarf decision of the Constitutional Court, which pretends that we do not exist.”

“Those who say ‘Is there a headscarf problem in this country? Everyone is happy with the situation’ pretend that those suffering from psychological problems or leaving their education because they have to uncover their heads, migrating to the other parts of the world to get education do not exist. But we exist, we are here and we are not going anywhere.”

“We cannot see our future in this country. We cannot plan our lives. And we have no intention of accepting this. We dream of a Turkey where every individual has the right to define her/himself the way s/he sees fit, where some outside process do not define individuals and where there are no impositions. We call upon you, too: Say stop to this excluding mentality before our last hopes, the last hopes of the young people, are exhausted!”

“We cannot accept it”

It has become very difficult to be a Turkish citizen, to earn the right to go to a university in this place, to live one’s religion, to be yourself or to look like yourself. We oppose those act that make living in this country so difficult. We see and realize that to be excluded by the state, to be subject to discriminatory treatment is a vital problem not only for those who wear headscarfs, but for the great majority of people in our country. We try and condemn this prohibitory mentality in our consciousnesses. (NZ/EZÖ/TB)