Turkey ? Lawmakers voted early today to approve a constitutional amendment allowing female students to enter universities wearing Islamic head scarves – a move some Turks see as a threat to the traditional separation of church and state.

Lawmakers voted 401-110 in a preliminary vote in favor of the government’s proposed amendment to the secular constitution. The government has defended its plan as a reform needed to give its citizens religious liberty and bring Turkey in line with European Union human rights guidelines.

A second and final round of voting was slated for Saturday.

The government has the backing of a nationalist opposition party and together they have more than the two-thirds majority in the 550-seat assembly required to make the change.

The head scarf issue is a source of tension in Turkey and has divided the population among those who consider the ban an affront to the religious freedoms of pious Muslims and those who fear removing the ban would erode Turkey’s secular education system.

The vast majority of Turkey’s 70 million people are Muslim, but they are divided over the role of Islam in politics and daily life.