Turkey's socially conservative government took a large step yesterday towards ending a ban on women wearing headscarves at universities, in a move that could spark another fierce tussle with the country's powerful secular establishment.

The governing Justice and Development party (AKP), which has its roots in political Islam and is riding a rising tide of conservatism in this country of 70m Muslims, reached agreement with an opposition party to lift the constitutional ban on the headscarf on campus and presented the issue as one of civil and religious freedom.