Obligatory religion lesson came into life in Turkey with the Constitution of 1982, which is still largely in effect today, following the September 12 military coup in 1980. The Islamization process of the country has been further deepened under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the last 15 years.
While many secular schools have been turned into İmam-Hatip schools that were originally established to raise Islamic priests, the schoolchildren confront with sectarian Sunnite religion lessons without receiving approval of parents in many examples.
soL News interviewed with lawyer Nusret Gürgöz from the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim-Sen), a left-wing trade union of teachers in Turkey. Gürgöz is known to have carried out legal struggle through lawsuits in order to ensure exemption from obligatory religion lessons for parents and schoolchildren.
LEGAL STRUGGLE IN SPITE OF INCONSISTENT COURT DECISIONS
Responding the question about a lawsuit which resulted in a court decision that approved the exemption of a child of atheist parents from religion lesson, lawyer Nusret Gürgöz said: “An administrative court in Antalya adjudged the exemption of a schoolchild from obligatory religious lesson while adopted a motion for stay of execution for another family. Both families said that they are atheists, thus the lesson imposed on their daughters is not in accordance with their worldview. The court reached a conclusion in favour of the families. We observe a social reaction against the imposition of the obligatory religious lesson, and positive results motivate us.”
The lawsuits in question have not been finalised yet and may be proceeded to the Council of State due to a possible objection of the Turkish National Education Ministry, lawyer Gürgöz said about inconsistent decisions of Turkish courts: “I have more than ten files regarding obligatory religious lesson. The Education Ministry has started to plead under the pretext, ‘a pluralist understanding has been prevailing after an amendment in 2012, which, therefore, would not require the exemption from religious lesson’ on the basis of additional two pages about the Alawi thought in religious books.
Underlining that the Ministry’s approach is bizarre in legal terms, Görgüz continued: “Despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) suggested a verdict in contrary to unjust decisions of Turkish courts, some courts and even the Council of State are still reaching inconsistent conclusions challenging the nature of law.”
SUCCESFUL EXAMPLES AGAINST OBLIGATORY RELIGIOUS LESSON
In an answer to the question whether the families will be able to get positive results with weight compensations through domestic legal procedures or the ECHR, lawyer Gürgöz said: “Of course. Obligatory religion lessons mean the imposition of the Sunni Islam on the children. It is legitimate to struggle against it. The parents who hesitate to file lawsuits should understand that they are right.”
Talking about some parents who are abstaining from legal procedures with the fear of being blacklisted by the ruling Justice and Development Party, Gürgöz concluded: “I have witnessed many times that some people are afraid. Yet the people should be optimist and brave. When we accomplish happy results, in the end, both the children and their parents are honoured. That is a struggle for the children.
