Six months after trouncing them in a battle of wits that ended in a general election, Turkey’s socially conservative government is again testing the patience of its secular opponents. On Wednesday the Turkish parliament began debating the lifting of a constitutional ban on the wearing of headscarves at public universities.

The initiative, which could be approved by the end of the week, pits the conservative government against the republican establishment and the military, which views with undisguised distaste the rising visibility of Islam in officially secular and overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey.