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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-36 |
2 December 2021 |
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1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)
H46-36 Cumhuriyetçi Eğitim Ve Kültür Merkezi Vakfı (Application No. 32093/10), İzzettin Doğan and Others (Application No. 62649/10) and Hasan and Eylem Zengin group (Application No. 1448/04) v. Turkey Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference document |
Decisions
1. recalling that in the judgments in this group the Court found, inter alia, that “the attitude of the State authorities towards the Alevi community, its religious practices and its places of worship is incompatible with the State’s duty of neutrality and impartiality and with the right of religious communities to an autonomous existence”;
As regards individual measures
2. invited again the authorities to provide information on whether the applicant foundation in the case Cumhuriyetçi Eğitim ve Kültür Merkezi Vakfi has been exempted from the payment of lighting costs since September 2017 and to consider practical solutions allowing the applicant foundation to regularly receive the reimbursement of such costs;
3. noted that this and the other individual measures in these cases are linked to the general measures;
As regards general measures
4. recalled their previous conclusions that the practice of the domestic courts to order the reimbursement of lighting costs to cemevis (Alevi places of worship) is insufficient to resolve the discrimination identified by the Court arising from the blanket exclusion of the Alevi community from State religious subsidies and other benefits, including tax exemptions; urged therefore theauthorities to adopt more comprehensive measures to ensure equal treatment of the Alevi faith and to consider some practical solutions to exempt cemevis from the payment of lighting costs;
5. noted again that the 2018 curriculum for the compulsory “religious culture and ethics” classes in primary and secondary schools does not appear to remedy all the concerns raised by the Court; therefore urged the authorities to ensure that the Turkish education system fulfils the State’s duty of neutrality and impartiality towards the various religions, denominations and beliefs, respecting the principles of pluralism and objectivity, and offers appropriate options for the children of parents who have a religious or philosophical conviction other than that of Sunni Islam to opt out of compulsory religious education, without pupils’ parents being obliged to disclose their religious or philosophical convictions;
6. recalled that a national discussion on how to resolve the issues highlighted by these judgments was embarked on the “Alevi initiative” workshops and urged the authorities to further the implementation of the recommendations reached by consensus in 2010 in the final report of these workshops, in drawing up a comprehensive action plan with a concrete calendar indicating specific legislative and administrative measures without further delay; in this respect, encouraged also the authorities to draw inspiration from the relevant Council of Europe recommendations, including the reports of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) adopted on 10 December 2010 and 29 June 2016;
7. strongly encouraged the authorities to take specific solution-oriented measures in the framework of the implementation of the new Human Rights Action Plan to address the Court’s findings in the present group of cases; expressed in this respect the readiness of the Council of Europe to provide assistance;
8. in view of the longstanding issues examined in these cases and the lack of progress achieved so far, decided to resume consideration of these cases at their DH meeting in March 2023 and instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft interim resolution for examination at that meeting, in the absence of comprehensive information allowing for a positive assessment of the general measures.