ANKARA, Feb 2: Some 125,000 flag-waving Turks, mostly women, denounced the Islamic-rooted government on Saturday over its plans to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic headscarves in universities a move the foreign minister said would expand Turkish freedoms.

The government has defended its plan as a reform needed to bring Turkey in line with European Union human rights guidelines, but many see the move as a serious threat to the country’s secular traditions.

The Parliament was expected to approve a series of legal amendments next week under which girl students would be allowed to wear headscarves at universities.—AP