American Hellenic Institute Statement on: The
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Annual Report
2009 Turkey to be placed on this year’s “Watch List”
May 20th,
2009
The United
States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its
Annual Report, published in May 2009, reaffirmed that the Turkish state
has yet failed to implement a series of amendments to its Constitution and
has further failed to fulfill its commitments against significant
bilateral and multilateral arrangements within the context of civil,
political and religious rights.
The Report
more specifically stated that Turkey continues to place a significant
level of restrictions on the freedom of religious minority communities.
These significant restrictions, including state policies and actions,
effectively deny non-Muslim communities the right to own and maintain
property, train religious clergy, and offer religious education. This has
led to the decline, or even in some instances disappearance, of some
religious minorities from lands they had inhabited for centuries. The
Report found that the persistence of this problem places the existence of
several religious minorities in Turkey at risk; therefore it was decided
that Turkey be placed on this year’s “Watch List”*.
According to
the Commission’s findings, Turkey has specifically failed to implement
the guarantees and protections granted for all non-Muslim religious
minorities under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. It is estimated that there
are approximately 2,500 Greek Orthodox citizens in Turkey today who are
severely limited as to their means of obtaining official government
recognition. The existent governmental and societal obstacles place
important restrictions upon the Greek Orthodox population’s property and
ownership rights within the Turkish state.
The
Commission notes that, contrary to the Lausanne provisions, minority
properties are systematically expropriated and requirements for legal
personality are either irregularly applied or arbitrarily suspended.
Government actions are not subject to appeal which in turn places serious
obstacles for these minorities who are denied the use of funds from their
properties in one part of Turkey to support their existing population
elsewhere within the country. As of its date of issue, May 2009, the
Commission reports that of the 13 non-Muslim congregations that have
applied to Turkish Courts in reclaiming 128 properties, only 3 cases have
been successful.
Moreover,
the Commission recognizes that Turkey has systematically targeted the
Greek Orthodox community through a series of policies, resulting in
killings, destruction of private and commercial properties, violation of
religious sites and expropriation of income-generating properties of both
private citizens and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It further expresses its
disapproval on the fact that Turkey allows only Turkish citizens to be
candidates for the position of the Ecumenical Patriarch and for hierarchs
in the Church’s Holy Synod. In this state of affairs, it finds that the
survival of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox community
in Turkey is at risk.
It thus
urges the Turkish government to:
address the
absence of full legal recognition for religious minorities by fully
implementing the 1923 Lausanne Treaty or amending the Law on Associations
so that all non-Muslim communities are granted legal status that affords
them the right to inherit, purchase, possess, maintain and sell property;
expand the
process of reclaiming clear title or fair compensation for expropriated
properties, which have been either sold to third parties or held by the
Turkish government; and
end the
authority of any government agency to seize property of any religious
community;
On the
matter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Commission urges:
Prime
Minister Erdogan to follow-up on his January 2008 statement that the
Ecumenical status of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate be an internal church
issue by officially recognizing the Ecumenical status of the Patriarch;
the Turkish
government to permit all religious minorities to train religious clergy
and remove restrictions on the ability of leaders of majority or minority
religious communities to wear clerical garb in public;
the Turkish
government to permit religious communities to select and appoint their
desired leadership in accordance with their internal guidelines and
beliefs.
The
Commission also calls for the reopening of the Halki Seminary under the
control of the Ecumenical Patriarch, and not under the supervision of the
Turkish government, and in addition allowing religious training to take
place on the site.
Making
reference to the most recent findings of the European Commission’s (EC)
Progress Report on Turkey issued in late 2008, the Commission cites the
failure of the Turkish government “to put forward a consistent and
comprehensive programme of political reforms”. On this observation, it
encourages the development of civic education programs that reflect the
religious and ethnic diversity of the Turkish society’s past and
present.
Moreover, it
cites that the Turkish government has ratified three major international
human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) in September 2003. The Turkish government placed
a provision on Article 27 of the ICCPR by setting conditions on its
commitment to religious freedom of the minority groups referred to by the
Lausanne Treaty. In as such, it set a narrow definition on the rights and
status of these minorities, seeking thus to undermine their guarantees to
“profess and practice” religion as specified by Article 27. This
provision also affects their rights as outlined by Article 18 of the ICCPR.
On a final
note, the Commission expresses its reservations on the amendment to
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, passed in April 2008. It notes that
“while this amendment seems to expand free speech, its vague language
increases the possibility of abuse, as has occurred in the past.” This
has implications for freedom of expression, religion or belief. It thus
recommends that the U.S. government urges Turkey to make further
amendments to its Penal Code.
In addition
to the aforementioned illustrations, there is an endless list of continued
Turkish suppression of religious minorities that the USCIRF needs to
update on its forthcoming Annual Report.
The American
Hellenic Institute (AHI) has unremittingly stressed the need to raise
Turkey’s status from a country being monitored, to a “Country of
Particular Concern” (CPC)**. AHI has been the front-runner in informing
the U.S. government about Turkey’s continuous violations of the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA).
We urge
President Obama to designate Turkey as a “Country of Particular
Concern” for severely violating religious freedom and to impose the
appropriate sanctions. Failing to do so makes the U.S. complicit in
Turkey’s insidious efforts to extinguish its Greek Orthodox minority and
the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is a mathematical certainty if events
continue to proceed unimpeded.
* The term
“Watch List” as used by the USCIRF refers to those countries where
religious freedom conditions require close monitoring due to the nature
and extent of violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by
the governments.
** The term
“Country of Particular Concern as used by the USCIRF refers to those
countries where there are ongoing, egregious violations of religious
freedom. CPC designation is not an end point, but the beginning of focused
diplomatic activity required by the International Religious Freedom Act of
1998 (IRFA) from which important obligations in the form of consequent
actions flow. Pursuant to the IRFA statute, the Commission issues
recommended responses for the President, Secretary of State, and Congress
to follow up on the CPC designations.
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