Campaign to allow scarves is dropped

Turkey’s ruling party has dropped its attempts to lift a ban on wearing Islamic head scarves in universities, which had infuriated those who said it went against the nation’s secular principles and nearly brought down the government.

Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek signaled the government would not push for a fresh round of legislation to lift the ban, a day after the top court narrowly decided not to shut down the ruling party, which was accused of trying to impose an Islamic regime.

Turkey’s Constitution enshrines a secular system. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has roots in Turkey’s Islamic movement.