FACTBOX - Policies on Muslim scarves and veils in Europe

(Reuters) - The wearing of Muslim face veils and headscarves in schools and at work is a sensitive topic across Europe. Here is a summary of policy in some key countries:

TURKEY

Mainly Muslim but secular Turkey has banned Islamic head-dress in universities and public offices. But parliament on Saturday resoundingly approved constitutional changes aimed at lifting a ban on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf in universities, the assembly's speaker said.

The Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party and a key opposition party agreed to cooperate to lift the ban, but have faced stiff resistance from the powerful secular elite which includes judges, army generals and university rectors.

Secularists see the garment as a threat to the country's strict separation of state and religion. Opinion polls show a majority of Turks back an easing of the ban in a country where about two-thirds of all women cover their heads.

Face coverings such as the Afghan-style burqa or Middle Eastern-style niqab are relatively rare in secular Turkey, which traditionally follows a moderate brand of Sunni Islam and where segregation of the sexes is very much the exception, not the rule.

NETHERLANDS

The Dutch government is set to retreat from a plan for a general ban on Muslim face veils but stop women wearing them in schools and government offices, media reported on Wednesday.

The cabinet has decided against a broad ban on the burqa or niqab in public as that would violate the principle of freedom of religion, the reports said.