Imagine coming to class one day and being told you are no longer welcome at this university because of your religious beliefs and ideology. Imagine being told that all the dreams and aspirations you had for the future as an educated individual were going to be snatched away from you because you refuse to sacrifice your religion for your education.

This scenario is a reality for the Muslim women of Turkey because they are living under the secularist Turkish government which has banned the wearing of the headscarf, a religious duty for Muslim women, in universities and government offices. This is the same headscarf that Muslim women all over the world look to for honor and protection. One such person is Nuha El-Khiamy, a sophomore at IU.

"Hijab (headscarf) sends out a really important message that a person does not need to see my body in order to have a conversation with me." El-Khiamy explained. "Hijab is my tool to living my life to its fullest and not worrying if my physical appearance is achieving some standard in someone's mind."

Immediately after the destruction of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1923, there came the secular reforms of the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkey now known as the "Father of Turkey." The same man is now responsible for being the father of hatred and religious oppression throughout Turkey in the name of secularism.

Not only have the Muslim women of Turkey been deprived of carrying out their religious duties, but they have also been tortured and imprisoned for demonstrating against the ban. On January 2, 80 people were arrested for demonstrating against the headscarf ban. Now 50 of them face the death penalty because of alleged "treason" -- Turkey's definition of a peaceful protest.

Branding the protestors as citizens who have committed treason is quite ironic considering that it is the Turkish government itself which has refused to follow the Turkish constitution and has disregarded the international laws to which Turkey is bound. Under the 42nd article of Turkey's modern constitution it states, "Nobody can be deprived from the educational right."

Furthermore, under the second article of the first supplement of the European Human Rights Treaty it says, "The right of education has been considered as one of the fundamental rights and limitations could not be applied on this subject." Therefore, it is the government officials who have committed treason and not the protestors who were simply exercising their rights in a "democratic" nation.

Those who have been imprisoned in Turkey for their religious beliefs have suffered the wrath of the Turkish government. Amnesty International's 1998 report of Turkey's human rights violations detailed methods used to torture political prisoners:

"Electric shock to the genitalia, buggery with broken bottles, 'water treatment' (dousing a naked prisoner in cold water, and opening the cell windows during winter), were just some of the methods used."

Despite all the hardships facing the Muslim women in Turkey, they refuse to sacrifice their religious beliefs for the Turkish generals, who so desperately want to be part of Europe. Turkey's young women are redefining feminism in their struggle, which has included sit-ins and hunger strikes, to get authorities to cancel the ban on headscarves. Feza Cieck, a student kicked out of medical school for wearing a scarf, said she has no intention of giving up in her struggle to obtain her constitutional right.

"Nobody has given me this school as a gift. I deserve this right by working hard days and nights," Cieck said. "They tell me 'take off or give up.' But, I refuse both. I say, 'No.' I will neither take off my scarf nor give up (my education)."

Our world has become a "global village." This means we can no longer try to shy away from the struggles of our fellow human beings in any part of the world. We must begin to correct abuses with our hands, tongues and heart. While the Muslim women of Turkey are waiting for support from people all over the world for their struggle against the enemies of religious freedom and human rights, let us remember the everlasting courage of women like Gulan Intisaar, an 18-year-old facing the death penalty for reading a poem called "Song of Freedom" during a mass demonstration against the headscarf ban.

"Our fight will go on, until the tyrants drown. Never will the burning flame die out, or our song of freedom end. Our defiant fists will not fall before the tyrants are overthrown."