Turkish lawmakers on Wednesday began debating a controversial higher education reform bill which has been denounced by the powerful military as a threat to the mainly Muslim country's secular order.
The bill seeks to ease restrictions on graduates of religious schools in obtaining university degrees other than in divinity studies, thus opening the way for them to hold public office.
The army, opposition lawmakers and university rectors have all joined forces in condemning the bill on the grounds that it will increase the influence of Islam in education.
But, in a challenge to all the critics, the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, viewed with suspicion by the secular establishment for its Islamist past, has committed itself to seeing the reform through parliament.
Wednesday's session saw members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) locked in a heated debate over the bill.
"This is an attempt to exploit religion. It will harm social peace and stability," charged CHP leader Deniz Baykal.
"The bill's only aim is to open the way for students of religious schools to have a position in the administration of the state in the future," he said.
But Education Minister Huseyin Celik waved the accusation aside.