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9/3/06

Sofia News Agency: Headscarf Dilemma Puzzles Bulgaria - by Ekaterina Terzieva


For the complete report in the Sofia News Aganecy click on this link

Headscarf Dilemma Puzzles Bulgaria - by Ekaterina Terzieva

Bulgaria has become caught up in the European row over Islamic dress, after a university said it considered recruiting big number of Turkish students who want to study while wearing veils. The Medical Academy in Plovdiv said it was weighing a request to grant places to 110 women from Turkey who want to attend lectures on condition they can wear veils. Under Turkey's secular laws, civil servants, teachers and pupils are forbidden from covering their heads in public in accordance with Islamic religious tradition.

While the academy in Plovdiv can expect an extra 440,000 euro per year from these fee-paying students, the request has generated a local controversy about secularism - and about the country's image on the eve of expected EU membership. Since more than 200 religious Turkish women recently opted to pursue university education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the attitude to Islamic dress is relaxed, they now seem to be exploring opportunities in Bulgaria.

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