The Turkish Constitutional Court has rejected a law allowing women to wear the Islamic veil in universities. According to sociologist Nilüfer Göle, a guest at Resetdoc’s Istanbul Seminars, this is “a way of confiscating democracy and public debate in the name of legalism”. Now the judges themselves could decide to outlaw the moderate Islamic party, the AKP, as well as its most important leaders (among them Premier Erdogan and the President of the Republic Gül), accused of attacking the country’s laicity. Is democracy at risk in Turkey? Europe and the Arab world are watching. Some, perhaps, are hoping for chaos.