Internet: “Turkey: How Far Will New Constitution Protect Freedom of Religion or Belief?”, in www.forum18.org (22 August 2012)

TURKEY: HOW FAR WILL NEW CONSTITUTION PROTECT FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF?
by Mine Yildirim, Åbo Akademi University
22 August 2012

Turkey's Constitutional Reconciliation Commission (AUK) has begun the drafting a new Constitution. But the political parties represented on the AUK have not reached a consensus on freedom of religion or belief, Forum 18 News Service notes. What are the implications of the new Constitution's possible omission of parts of Turkey's international religious freedom commitments, affecting for example religious education, conscientious objection, and the neutrality of the state? The scope of constitutional guarantees of religious freedom in Turkey should not be limited by the boundaries of the AKP government. Constitutional provisions must reflect the provisions on religious freedom in Turkey's international human rights commitments.

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Forum 18, Oslo Norway, www.forum18.org

Forum 18 is an instrument for promoting the implementation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and concentrates on serious and obvious breaches of religious freedom, and particularly on situations where the lives and welfare of individual people or groups are being threatened and where the right to gather around one's faith is being hindered.

The Board of Forum 18 will arrange at least one annual conference or convention, which is to be open to representatives of churches, organisations, free groups and individuals. Financial support for such conferences or conventions will be sought primarily from external sources.

The members of the Board of Forum 18 are: Jostein Nesvåg (Chairman), Ed Brown (Secretary), Per Ove Stige, Eva Olsvold Sandar, Are Mjanger

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