By Ahmet Sait Akcay
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s EU affairs minister has criticized an EU court ruling on religious symbols that allows employers the option to ban staff members from wearing any religious, political and philosophical symbols, including the hijab worn by some Muslim women.
In remarks made to the private A HABER television, Omer Celik said: “This ruling shouldn’t go unchanged.”
Celik compared the ruling to Turkey’s so called post-modern coup era when on Feb. 28, 1997, a declaration was made that imposed wide-ranging measures across Turkish society, especially for women who chose to wear the headscarf.
He termed the decision as part of the ongoing “Islamophobic movement in Europe”.
He said the vague ruling could end up employers deciding everything that an employer wears. “We should all wear uniforms then,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that employers can ban their workers from wearing any religious symbol, including headscarves worn by some Muslim women.
In a ruling on two separate appeals made by Belgium and France over the headscarf ban, the court said companies could bar staff from “visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign”.
In both cases, the appeal courts of Belgium and France had urged the EU court to give a joint judgement on the issue.
The EU court further said the decision to ban such symbols at workplaces was not discriminatory.
