YOK head declines invitation to Inter-Universities board meeting

Board of Higher Education (YOK) Chairman Yusuf Ziya Ozcan yesterday declined an invitation to attend today's Inter-Universities Board (UAK) meeting, adding that the group had no standing to discuss the headscarf issue. In a written statement, Ozcan said that the UAK was meant only to deal with academic issues, not the headscarf issue. The UAK, made up of all of Turkey's university rectors, will hold an extraordinary meeting in Ankara this morning to discuss constitutional changes to lift the university headscarf ban.