Introduction

CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide) and CSW-Nigeria are human rights organisations specialising in the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).

This submission seeks to draw attention to human rights violations in Türkiye, including violations of the right to FoRB, in advance of the State’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

Legal framework

Article 2 of the constitution defines Türkiye as a secular state, yet the country remains caught between its secular and Islamic identities.

Article 24 of the Turkish Constitution upholds the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), stating that ‘everyone has the freedom of conscience, religious belief and conviction.’ It prohibits discrimination on religious grounds, and states that ‘No one shall be allowed to exploit or abuse religion or religious feelings, or things held sacred by religion, in any manner whatsoever, for the purpose of personal or political interest or influence,’ as long as they do not violate the provisions of Article 14 which stipulates that ‘none of the rights and freedoms embodied in the Constitution may be exercised with the aim of violating the indivisible integrity of the State with its territory and nation’ or ‘of endangering the existence of the Turkish State and Republic’. There is a risk that Article 14 could be deliberately misinterpreted by the government to undermine the rights enshrined in Article 24 and other Articles of the Constitution. 

The Turkish Penal Code (TPC) came into effect on 1 June 2005 and purports to protect ‘the religious values of a section of the public’ from insult under Article 216. This essentially constitutes a blasphemy law, providing for a sentence of six months to a year for anyone found guilty of openly doing so. However, regarding the religious sector, the law is generally used to target only individuals deemed to have insulted Islam in some way, rather than other religions. It has also been used to punish critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, or AKP).  

In addition, Article 219 of the TPC imposes limits on the freedom of expression of religious leaders, while Articles 299, 300 and 301 of the TPC are also used frequently to silence criticism of the government and the president.

In 2023, Erdogan was re-elected with 52% of the vote. The 2023 elections were highly criticised, with a joint mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) finding that legislation introduced to ensure a smooth potential run-off was inadequate to address concerns around the integrity of second rounds.

Thus, despite constitutional protections and some positive steps taken by the government in recent years, against this backdrop religious minorities are increasingly vulnerable to hate speech, discrimination and intolerance, including in the media, in educational settings and in the registration of church buildings.

To read the submission in full, you can download the pdf here.