18 January 2007
TURKEY: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM VIA STRASBOURG, NOT ANKARA OR BRUSSELS?
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=901
There are now two major questions in the struggle for full religiousfreedom in Turkey, Otmar Oehring of the German Catholic charity Missio <http://www.missio-aachen.de/menschen-kulturen/themen/menschenrechte> notes. Firstly, will the controversial Foundations Law be adopted, and ifso in what form? Secondly, will the Turkish authorities move towards fullreligious freedom after a recent momentous ruling by the European Court ofHuman Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg? The ECHR did not accept the Turkish state's argumentation over the seizure of non-Muslim minorities' property,and even the Turkish judge at the Court had no objections to the ruling. In this personal commentary for Forum 18 News Service<http://www.forum18.org>, Dr Oehring suggests that, as Turkish accession negotiations with the European Union have gone quiet, the ECHR may now be the best route for Turkey's religious minorities to assert their rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment