Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan (file photo)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Turkey's top court of overstepping its authority by annulling a law that allowed Muslim headscarves to be worn at universities.

Mr. Erdogan told a parliamentary group meeting Tuesday that legislative power belongs only to elected members of parliament. He said nobody can take that power away from parliament.

The prime minister said the Constitutional Court breached the constitution by annulling the measure based on its content. He said the court is only authorized to examine the procedural aspects of an amendment - not the content.

Last week, the court annulled constitutional reforms that lifted a decades-old ban on wearing headscarves at universities. It said the reforms violated Turkey's secular principles.

The ruling AK party said the court violated Turkey's separation of powers by interfering in parliament's authority to pass laws.

The Islamist-rooted AK party says wearing headscarves at universities should be a matter of personal choice.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul approved the constitutional reforms in February, but many universities defied them and blocked female students with headscarves.

Turkey banned headscarves in public places, schools and universities in the 1980s.