Turkey's parliament passed legislation yesterday which granted thousands of students 'Amnesty', allowing them to return to university. The amnesty applies to students who were kicked out of university on academic or disciplinary grounds after June 29. 2000.

The amnesty includes students dismissed because of the controversial 'head scarf ban'. However, officials say that women who wear the head scarf will not be allowed back to university.

Hurriyet Columnist Cuneyt Ulsever said, "The amnesty also has a political dimension: Amnesty for those with head scarves, I don't think that the amnesty is just for these students, but I know that the most discussed dimension of the amnesty will be this."