Turkey has lifted a decades-old ban on headscarves in the civil service as a 'step toward normalization' by the Islamic-rooted government aiming at improving democracy.
Female civil servants have now been allowed to wear the veil, while their male counterparts can sport beards as symbols of Muslim devoutness, News24 reports.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week a package of democratic reforms mostly aimed at improving rights for minority Kurds, including upliftment of headscarf ban.
Meanwhile, critics accused Erdogan of forcing his Islamic values on the secular nation.
Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had pledged to remove the headscarf ban in all domains, when it came to power in 2002.
However, the ban remains in place for judges, prosecutors, police and military personnel.
