Turkish universities appear set to soon lift their ban on the wearing of head scarves on their campuses by observant Muslim women, according to reports by the Financial Times and the BBC.

The country’s governing Justice and Development Party, whose origins are in political Islam, and the main opposition Nationalist Movement Party reached an agreement on Thursday to amend Turkey’s Constitution to end the ban.

“The issue is a bleeding wound in higher education [and] has to be solved,” the two parties said in a joint statement. The parties command enough support in Turkey’s parliament that changes endorsed by both should be assured of passage.

The Turkish newspaper Zaman reported that the amendments include a new phrase to be added to Article 42 of the Constitution. It states that “no one shall be deprived of the right to higher education because of their apparel.”

Details of the amendments remain to be hammered out, however, and a meeting scheduled for today to discuss specifics was postponed until Monday, with an opposition-party member telling reporters, “We have completed our studies, but the [Justice and Development] Party has not.”

Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, who shares Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s roots in political Islam, praised the move to lift the ban, which is viewed by Turkey’s secular political and military establishment as a crucial symbol of the country’s secular identity. “Universities should not be places of political controversy, beliefs should be practiced freely at universities,” said Mr. Gul, who as head of state is supposed to remain neutral on politically controversial issues. Mr. Erdogan had made clear his intentions to lift the head scarf ban last year. —Aisha Labi