US says religious freedoms have deteriorated in Turkey

Harold's List
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

The U.S. State Department criticized Turkey for having laws and policies that discriminate against minority religions, in the State Department's annual report to Congress on religious freedom.

In Turkey, “there was some deterioration regarding religious freedom, in contrast to previous positive trends,” the International Religious Freedom Report 2005 released on Tuesday by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor said.

“The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice; however, the government imposes some restrictions on Muslim and other religious groups and on Muslim religious _expression in government offices and state-run institutions, including universities,” it said, while citing a public campaign against Christian missionary activity and statements by government officials depicting missionaries as a threat.

“The government's Directorate of Religious Affairs initiated a public campaign against Christian missionary activity in the country. High-level government officials made statements depicting missionaries as a threat. There was also an increase in anti-Christian media coverage. Threats and vandalism against Christians and church facilities increased.”

The generally tolerant relationship among religions in society contributed to religious freedom in principle; however, a sharp debate continued over the country's definition of “secularism,” the proper role of religion in society, and the potential influence of the country's small minority of Islamists, the report said.

Washington sees signs pointing to resolution of Halki seminary issue:

Like a report released by the State Department in March, the report also noted the government's refusal to recognize the “ecumenical” status of the Greek Orthodox patriarch and said, “The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul continues to seek the reopening of the Halki seminary on the island of Heybeli in the Sea of Marmara.”

There are some reasons for Washington to be hopeful a formula on the reopening of the Halki seminary can be reached, U.S. Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom John Hanford said at a press conference following the release of the report.

“We've been given certain reasons that make us hopeful for a resolution,” Hanford said, noting that the U.S. officials have brought the issue to the agenda during several meetings with Turkish officials.


‘Religious pluralism viewed as threat to national unity':

The officially tolerant relationship among religions in Turkish society contributes to religious freedom; however, some Muslims, Christians, Baha'is, and other religious communities face societal suspicion and mistrust, according to the report.

“Religious pluralism is widely viewed as a threat to Islam and to ‘national unity.' Nationalist sentiments sometimes contain anti-Christian or anti-Semitic overtones,” it said.

A street demonstration against Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartolomeos in September 2004 for his remarks interpreted as interfering in internal politics by commenting on religious reform and the country's European Union bid was among examples listed as such.

Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” climbing into the top 10 on the bestseller lists of some of the country's major bookstore chains during the same period was another example with pro-Islamist daily Vakit's publication in February with “crude cartoons depicting German Interior Minister Otto Schily covered with swastikas and Stars of David.” The cartoons were published in protest of the German government's decision to close the paper's European edition for its articles denying the Holocaust.