ISTANBUL // A 47-year-old public library worker from western Turkey may go down in history as the man who forced his country to rethink the relationship between the state and its citizens.
This week, in a case named "Sinan Isik versus Turkey", the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Turkey violated the rights of Mr Isik by forcing him to decide whether or not to disclose his religious conviction on the official Turkish identity card. As a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey has to abide by the court's verdicts.
"It is a very important step for modern and democratic people in Turkey," Kazim Genc, Mr Isik's lawyer, said in a telephone interview this week. After the ruling, Turkey will be obliged to change the design of identity cards and remove the current box indicating the religion of a citizen, Mr Genc said.
The case of Mr Isik, an employee of a public library in the western city of Izmir, is part of a development of democratisation in Turkey that has strengthened the rights of the individual in relation to the state, several observers said.
As a candidate for EU membership, Turkey has passed several reforms widening individual rights, but the latest verdict from Strasbourg is pushing that process further, they said.
"If the decision is implemented, it will be a big step in the relationship between state and citizen," said Husnu Ondul, a human-rights campaigner. "It is important that people are no longer obliged to tell the state what they believe in."
Turkey used to be a country where modernisation had been conducted "from the top down" and where the state had the right "to say who is who", Mehmet Altan, a commentator, told the Haberturk newspaper in an interview. Now Turkey was seeing the emergence of a new relation between state and individual, he said.
Mr Genc also stressed a removal of the "religion box" on identity cards would be an official statement that the Turkish state is taking a step back from interfering in the private lives of its citizens. "What business does the state have with religion anyway?"
The Strasbourg decision also concerns the special Turkish definition of secularism. While the term is generally defined as a separation of state and religion in the West, the Turkish form of secularism stresses the need for state control over religion, especially over Islam, which was seen as a reactionary force by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey's founder.
Now Strasbourg says the Turkish state has to keep more of a distance, Mr Ondul said. "The court has told the state to be objective and not to pressure people." Mr Isik himself called the decision a "silent revolution". The Turkish state "has to be secular but at the same time respect humanity", he told the Hurriyet newspaper.
Mr Isik is a member of the Alevi community, followers of a liberal strand of Islam that is sometimes regarded as a heretic sect by the Sunni majority in Turkey. The Alevis, estimated at between 10 and 15 million people, or roughly 14 per cent to 20 per cent of Turkey's population, have been demanding official recognition by Ankara for years.
Currently, Alevi meeting houses are not categorised as places of worship, but as cultural centres. Following a complaint by another Alevi, the Strasbourg court told Ankara three years ago that Alevi children must not be forced to take part in Sunni religious lessons in state schools. The decision has yet to be implemented.
In 2004, Mr Isik asked Turkish authorities to be allowed to have "Alevi" instead of "Islam" written on his identity card. When Turkish courts turned him down, arguing that Alevism did not constitute an independent religion, Mr Isik turned to Strasbourg in 2005.
One year later, a new law said Turkish citizens can leave blank the "religion box" on his identity card, but the court said that was not enough.
"The fact of having to apply to the authorities in writing for the deletion of the religion in civil registers and on identity cards, and similarly, the mere fact of having an identity card with the 'religion' box left blank, obliged the individual to disclose, against his or her will, information concerning an aspect of his or her religion or most personal convictions," the court said in a statement.
"That was undoubtedly at odds with the principle of freedom not to manifest one's religion or belief."
The court ruled that Turkey had violated Mr Isik's human rights. Mr Genc said the Turkish state now had three months to decide whether to appeal against the ruling. Such an appeal would be heard by a Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg court, made up by 17 judges, instead of the panel of seven judges that handed down the verdict in Mr Isik's case.
Referring to a current initiative by the government in Ankara, known as "Democratic Opening", to strengthen democratic rights, Mr Genc said an appeal would contradict the promise to widen democracy. "If there is a Democratic Opening, they should not appeal," he said. Instead, Ankara will have to change laws in order to get rid of the "religion box", he added.
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, indicated his government is likely to follow the ruling of the Strasbourg court. "I do not see the decision as abnormal," Mr Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.
@Email:tseibert@thenational.ae
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The smuggler
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Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
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For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
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'Spies in Disguise'
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Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
