Muslim politician to sue over French airport 'humiliation'

Muslim politician to sue over French airport 'humiliation' http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/181583/muslim-politician-to-sue-over-french-airport-39-humiliation-39.html

printable version 12 March 2015 The Justice and Development (AK) Party’s deputy representative in Brussels, Asiye Bilgin, has said she will file a lawsuit after she was forced to take off her jacket at a securıty checkpoint in a French airport. Bilgin, who wears an Islamic scarf, said on Wednesday she was asked by security personnel at Strasbourg Airport to take off her jacket even though she had told them that she was only wearing a sleeveless shirt underneath. She said: "I have been living in Europe for 31 years." "Although I have faced many types of discrimination, I was never humiliated this much." After her first refusal to take off her jacket, a male security officer then loudly asked her to remove it, she said. Bilgin replied that, as a Muslim woman, she could not take off her jacket in public and requested a private cabin. She said she told the security officer: "What you are doing is against religious freedom and human rights." Bilgin said another officer yelled: "This is Strasbourg and there is no cabin here, you have to take off your jacket." After another failed attempt at requesting a suitable place to take off her jacket, Bilgin said she eventually took it off to go through security. Contacted by The Anadolu Agency, the head of passengers' control post at the Strasbourg airport, who asked not to be identified, said that the airport does have private cabins, contradicting what Bilgin said police at Strasbourg airport had claimed. The Turkish politician told The Anadolu Agency she plans to file a complaint against Strasbourg airport and the police, not only for the discriminatory behavior but also because for giving false information. Bilgin said that the incident had taken place in front of several parliamentarians, without specifying which, and added that the fact none of them had intervened was sad. She said: "All Muslim women, especially the ones wearing hijab, can face inhumane treatment despite the universal values." "And this treatment took place in front of the ones who attempt to lecture Turkey on so-called humanity and freedom." "European Muslims are treated as second-class citizens in Europe. The treatment that blacks face in the U.S. is experienced by Muslims in Europe," she added. 12 March 2015