European Court Rules Against Turkey's Religion ID

Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that a European court ordered Turkey to remove the religious affiliation section from citizens' identification cards, calling the practice a violation of human rights.

Indentification card of a Muslim man in Istanbul, Turkey (Photo: Will Morris)

"Religious minorities and in particular Christian converts in Turkey have faced discrimination because of the mandatory religion declaration on their identification cards, which was enforced until 2006," said the CDN story.

It went on to say that since then, citizens are allowed to leave the "Religion" section of their IDs blank.

The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights "is a good thing," said Zekai Tanyar, president of the Turkish Protestant Alliance, citing prejudices against Christian converts. "[Religion on the ID] can cost people their jobs," he said. "It has been known to affect whether they get a job or not, how people look at them, whether they are accepted for a post or an application of some sort. Therefore I think [the ruling] is a good and appropriate thing."

CDN reported that in 2000 Turkey's neighbor Greece, a majority Christian Orthodox country, lifted the religion section from national IDs in order to adhere to European human rights standards and conventions, causing tumult among nationals.

International Implications

It is not yet known what, if any, effect the ECHR decision could have on the rest of the Middle East.

"Because of its history, economic power and strategic location, Turkey is

Istanbul scene

seen as a leader in the region. Like Turkey, many Middle Eastern countries have a place for religious affiliation on their identification cards. Unlike Turkey, listing religious affiliation is mandatory in most of these countries and almost impossible to change, even under court order," the CDN story went on to say.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), religious identification is used as a tool to deny jobs and even basic rights or services to religious minorities in many Middle Eastern countries.

"It's a serious problem from a human rights point of view," said Joe Stork, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa for HRW, an international human rights organization. "It's especially problematic when that requirement becomes a basis for discrimination."

Stork said the identification cards shouldn't have a listing for religion at all. He said the European decision may eventually be used in legal arguments in Middle Eastern courts, but it will be a long time before change is realized.

"It's not like the Egyptian government is going to wake up in the morning and say, 'Gee, let's do that,'" Stork said.

CDN concluded by saying, "Egypt in particular is notorious for using religion on IDs to systematically discriminate against Coptic Christians and converts to Christianity. While it takes a day to change one's religion from Christianity to Islam on their ID, the reverse is virtually impossible."

For more information, go to: www.compassdirect.org