ICC Note: Religious minorities in Turkey have again raised attention to the challenges they face due to governmental restrictions. Most Christians and non-Sunni Muslim religious groups lack any legal status, preventing them from carrying out basic tasks like owning property, opening a bank account, providing formal education, and training and selecting religious leaders. Some positive steps have been taken in recent months, but there are larger structural issues that need to be addressed.
By Menekse Tokyay
2/11/14 Turkey (SES Turkiye) – Turkey’s religious minority communities are calling on the government to strengthen the rights of independent religious foundations as part of its EU membership bid.
The status of minority religious legal entities was the topic of conversation in Istanbul recently at a conference hosted by the Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law in partnership with the Community Foundations Representative Office and with the assistance of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission.
Articles 37 to 45 of the Lausanne Peace Treaty regulate the protection of minorities. They require the government to undertake the full and complete protection of all its citizens, without regard to their religion.
“In particular, they shall have an equal right to establish, manage and control at their own expense, any charitable, religious and social institutions, any schools and other establishments for instruction and education, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their own religion freely therein,” article 40 reads.
But religious minorities say they face challenges in achieving a legal status that would allow them institutional autonomy, freedom to regulate their own staff, or buy property. Patriarchates are unable to open bank accounts because they are denied the right to be “legal entities” under Turkish law.
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Mine Yildirim, Freedom of Belief project director at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, said an independent legal status would allow religious minorities to exercise their rights, including the right to property, sign contracts, and establish relations with authorities.
“In line with the international commitments of Turkey, all minority communities have the right to have a legal entity status, and if the state refuses the protection of this right with some justifications on the basis of secularity or national security, it has to justify its legal grounds in accordance with international human rights norms,” Yildirim told SES Türkiye.
“When religious minorities acquire a legal entity status in Turkey, their activities will become much more transparent. This will also mean that their activities will be supervised and that they will be held accountable in respect of human rights obligations,” Yildirim said.
Umut Sahin, general secretary of the Association of Protestant Churches, said almost half of protestant churches in Turkey do not have legal entities, and that from a judicial point of view they are considered non-existent.
“Currently the protestant community in Turkey has one foundation, 28 associations and 15 representative offices that are tied with them. With these foundations and associations, the aims of the community to establish a church is recognised, however no judicial basis is provided to their churches,” Sahin told SES Türkiye.
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