The ECtHR, Turkish Alevis and the rights of religious minorities

Turkey’s human rights record in relation to its religious minorities is, to put the most charitable interpretation on it, rather patchy – and here we go again.

The facts

Unless they are Christian or Jewish, schoolchildren in Turkey have to take part in a mandatory course on religious culture and ethics. In Mansur Yalçın & Ors v Turkey [2014] ECHR 938 [in French] fourteen Turkish Alevis, unhappy with the content of the course, had asked the Ministry of Education in 2005 to initiate a consultation with leading members of their community with a view to overhauling the curriculum to include Alevi culture and philosophy. The Directorate of Religious Education attached to the Ministry of Education rejected their request and they and 1,905 others then challenged that decision in the Ankara Administrative Court. Continue reading