The Women's Rights Association against Discrimination (AKDER) launched a signature campaign against the ban of the headscarf on 28 February.

AKDER demands to lift the headscarf ban as a corner stone on 28 February, the 13^th anniversary of the ban's implementation in 1997. Neslihan Akbulut announced on behalf of the association: "Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu, then Chief of General Staff, said that the influence of 28 February will last for a thousand years. 13 years have passed, another 987 years lay ahead. The patience of women wearing headscarves will not last for another 987 years".

"We do not want women in this country to be insulted because of their clothes, we do not want their rights to be usurped or the women to be exposed to rape". Akbulut urged everybody to raise their voices against the headscarf ban. Furthermore, she called the government to remove the headscarf ban from all areas of life.

Assoc. Dr. Alev Erkilet spoke in a meeting and assessed the headscarf ban as a means of systematic discrimination against women.

Erkilet pointed out that this problem cannot be solved by merely taking into consideration the female university students who are not allowed to campus because of their headscarves. "We have to stand up for our entire rights. We do not only want our daughters to be able to study freely at university. At the same time, we want to be free to go wherever we want", Erkilet explained.

Musician Şanar Yrudatapan, journalist Aydın Engin, sociologist Ferhat Kentel and Assoc. Dr. Sevgi Krutulmuş also attended the AKDER meeting and called to provide a social consensus as soon as possible to reach a solution. (BB/VK)

The signature campaign is launched on http://28subat1000yilsuremez.blogspot.com/