Turkey 'guilty of religious discrimination'

Turkey has been discriminating against its Alevi Muslim religious minority by failing to recognise their places of worship and pay the electricity bill of their premises, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled.

Turkey was taken to the top human rights court in 2010 by the Republican Education and Cultural Center Foundation, an Alevi organisation also known as Cem Foundation. The group objected to the state practice of not paying the electricity bills for an Istanbul cemevi - where Alevis hold rituals - while doing so for mosques, churches and synagogues.

• According to the Turkish law, the electricity bills for places of worship are paid from a fund administered by the Directorate of Religious Affairs, a state institution dealing with religious issues.

Tuesday's landmark ruling comes after the conservative Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's announcement of planned reforms to meet Alevis' demands.

However, these reforms were criticised by Alevi groups, as they did not change the main position of the government, failing to recognise cemevis (literally translated as gathering houses) as official places of worship.

"In the recent proposed reforms, the government offered Alevis funds without offering their sites official recognition. Alevis want cemevis and their faith to be recognised, so the proposal did not satisfy them," Riza Turmen, a former ECHR judge and MP of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told Al Jazeera.

'Alevism not a religion'

Ankara has long refused to offer Alevi sites official recognition. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at various times said that Alevism was not a religion and mosques were the only places of worship in the religion of Islam. 

Ahmet Iyimaya, the chairman of the parliament's justice commission and an AK Party MP, told Al Jazeera that the government would act in line with the ruling and make the necessary steps.

"Recognition of cemevis as places of worship is already on our agenda," he said.

"The ECHR judgment is good news. However, Alevis, who are an ancient part of this nation, wish their rights were given by Turkey's democracy, rather than Europe," Cengiz Hortoglu, the chairman of Anatolia Alevi Bektashi Federation, said. 
Izzettin Dogan, the chairman of Cem Foundation, the organisation that sued Turkey, called the verdict "historic".
An estimated 10 to 15 million people in Turkey, a country of 76 million, belong to the Alevi sect. A 2012 research report by Sabaht Akkiraz, an MP of the CHP, estimated that there were 12.5 million Alevis is Turkey.

Alevis - no relation to the Alawites of Syria - mix Islam, Sufi and Anatolian folk traditions in their practices and philosophy. However, like Alawites, they are followers of Ali, a caliph in Islamic history and a relative of Prophet Muhammad.
The Cem Foundation argued that as a result of Ankara's non-recognition, the Yenibosna Centre, the cemevi in question, raked up unpaid bills amounting to more than 668,000 Turkish liras (close to $300,000)...............................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/turkey-guilty-religious-discrimination-2014123105736700367.html
3/12/14
--
-
Related:

• Turkish PM Davutoğlu says ‘even an atheist should have religious knowledge’ 

• Turkey wants Turk-born kids brought up in native culture

• Turkish Deputy PM expresses ‘hope’ to see Hagia Sophia as mosque.