Turkey's new code of conduct and disciplinary code for women studying for professions in the health sector requires them to be virgins, press reports said Monday.
New directives issued by the health ministry provide for virginity tests if a female student is suspected of "having had sexual relations or being a prostitute," the daily Hurriyet reported.
Non-virgins would be expelled, the paper said. No appeal against the decision would be allowed, the daily Radikal said.
The code of conduct covers students at the Health Schools, which train young women aged 13-17 for work as nurses or midwives.
Hurriyet criticized Health Minister Osman Durus, a member of an ultra-nationalist party, for issuing the code of conduct, saying he was setting himself up as a "guardian of virtue."
It was not the first brush with controversy for Durus, who in 1999 turned down foreign aid to victims of a devastating earthquake in northwest Turkey, which claimed nearly 20,000 lives, saying Turkey could take care of its own -- ANKARA (AFP)
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