The Turkish government has abolished a ban that prohibited female police officers from wearing a religious headscarf while on duty, according to a decree published in Official Gazette on Saturday.
A decades-old ban on headscarves in the civil service was lifted in 2013 but excluded the police, military and judiciary.
According to the new regulation, female police officers can wear a plain, uniform-colored headscarf under a hat or beret without covering their face.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) had pledged to remove the ban on the wearing of headscarves in all areas when it came to power in 2002.