Turkey - Legal personality problem persists for some non-Muslim groups

Turkey - Legal personality problem persists for some non-Muslim groups.Obtaining a legal personality for some non-Muslim groups, including Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, various evangelical free churches and the Baha'I, still remains a problem in Turkey. The lack of legal personality, these groups claim, is preventing these sects and religious groups from accessing rights and protections afforded to minorities, particularly in the fields of education, charitable organizations and property ownership. Although there are ways to circumvent restrictions, such as organizing themselves as associations, they demand recognition in accordance with EU norms.Turkish authorities say that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the main agreement regulating minorities in Turkey, recognized only Jews, Armenians and Greek Orthodox communities as minorities, meaning many others, including Roman Catholics, Syriacs and Protestants, were left out. The European Union Progress Report for Turkey this year also underlined the problem of the legal personalities and recalled that “in March, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe concluded that the fundamental right to freedom of religion, as protected by Article 9 read in conjunction with Article 11 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), includes the possibility for religious communities to obtain a legal personality.”The progress report, while explaining the problems that religious minorities are facing due to their lack of legal personalities, mentioned that protestant and some other churches have not been able to obtain permission for places of worship.Hmmm...Enough Turkish shools present in America."Jehovah's Witnesses have had similar problems, as the courts found that their place of worship in Mersin violated the zoning law. This case has been taken to the ECtHR. They also have a similar case related to a worship place in İzmir,” the progress report pointed out.While receiving Kenan Gürsoy, the ambassador of Turkey to the Holy See, at the beginning of last year, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Catholic Church in Turkey is waiting for civil judicial recognition. Although diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Ankara were established more than 50 years ago, the Catholic community was not given an official status.“Due to fundamental changes in the laws governing associations and foundations, in accordance with efforts to harmonize these laws with European Commission guidelines, religious communities now have the option of establishing themselves as associations or foundations. Individual evangelical free churches have taken advantage of this possibility,” he wrote.But according to him, this problem can only be solved if Turkey continues to develop its understanding of what it means to be a secular state in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.Hmmmmmm.....Complete Freedom of religion is still far away in "Man of the Year" Erdogan his Turkey.And in my opinion he's heading now in the other direction,joining more radical Islamic countries.Read the full story here.