Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul 0578-9745 2687-4113 İstanbul Üniversitesi 10.26650/annales.2022.71.0007 Law in Context Hukuk Recent Developments on the Question of Religion Courses: An Analysis of a Turkish Constitutional Courts’s Decision in 2022 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7172-5426 Şirin Tolga MARMARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ 12 31 2022 71 481 496 09 05 2022 09 05 2022 Copyright © 1951, Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul 1951 Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul

In this study, the decision of the Turkish Constitutional Court in 2022 regarding the compulsory religion classes, Hüseyin El and Nazlı Şirin El, was analyzed. The decision was criticized on the following eight points: (1) Although the correct decision was quite apparent, the Constitutional Court found a violation by only one vote. It created an unsafe situation.(2) The Constitutional Court established the violation too late. It weakened the objective effect of the decision. (3) The Constitutional Court referred to crucial international materials but did not consider their merits. (4) The Constitutional Court based its decision on the violation with reference to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights but it missed the chance to make a much deeper analysis. (5) The Constitutional Court ignored the original and alternative theses in Turkish literature. (6) The Constitutional Court made controversial inferences regarding the principle of laicism, especially in the context of the doctrine of positive obligations. (7) The Ministry of Justice misrepresented the European Court of Human Rights judgments. (8) The application was not prepared professionally and powerfully enough.

 Turkish Constitutional Court European Court of Human Rights Compulsory Religion Course Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Secularism Turkish Constitutional Court European Court of Human Rights Compulsory Religion Course Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Secularism Turkish Constitutional Court European Court of Human Rights Compulsory Religion Course Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Secularism Turkish Constitutional Court European Court of Human Rights Compulsory Religion Course Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Secularism Akbulut O and Usal Z O. ‘Parental Religious Rights vs. Compulsory Religious Education in Turkey’ (2008) 15 Int. J. Minor. Group Rights 433-455. Akbulut O. ‘Turkey’s Reaction to the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights’ (2015) 5 Int J Multidiscip 75-86. Çınar Ö H. ‘An Unsolved Issue: Religious Education in International Human Rights Law and Case of Turkey’ in Mine Yıldırım and Özgür Heval Çınar (eds), Freedom of Religion and Belief in Turkey (CSP 2014) 57-79. Çınar, Ö H. ‘Compulsory Religious Education in Turkey’ (2013) 8 Religion & Human Rights 223-241. Esen S and Gönenç L. ‘Religious Information on Identity Cards: A Turkish Debate’ (2008) 23(2) JLR 579-603. Özenç B. ‘The Religion Box on Identity Cards as a Means to Understand the Turkish Type of Secularism’ in in Mine Yıldırım and Özgür Heval Çınar (eds), Freedom of Religion and Belief in Turkey (CSP 2014) 89-112. Özgül C. ‘Freedom of Religion, the ECtHR and Grassroots Mobilization on Religious Education in Turkey’ (2019) 12(1) Politics and Religion 101-133. Şirin T. ‘Nüfus Cüzdanındaki Din Hanesi ve Eğitimdeki Din Dersi Zorlamalarına İlişkin Güncel Gelişmeler’ (2016) 149 Güncel Hukuk 21-26. Yıldırım M. ‘Are Turkey’s Restrictions on Freedom of Religion or Belief Permissible?’ (2020) Religion & Human Rights 172-191. ECtHR’s Decisions Folgerø et al. v Norway App no. 15472/02 (ECtHR, 29 June 2007) Hasan and Eylem Zengin v Turkey App no 1448/04 (ECtHR, 09 October 2007) Kapmaz v Turkey App no 13716/12, (ECtHR, 07 January 2020) Mansur Yalçın v. Turkey App no 21163/11 (ECtHR, 16 September 2014) Osmanoğlu and Kocabaş v Switzerland App no. 29086/12 (ECtHR, 10 January 2017) Sinan Işık v Turkey App no 21924/05 (ECtHR 02 February 2010) Valsamis v Greece App no. 21787/93 (ECtHR, 18 December 1996) TCC’s Decisions Cem Sarısülük and others App no. 2015/16451 (TCC, 15 December 2021) Durmuş Fikri Sağlar (2) App no. 2017/29735 (TCC, 17 March 2021) Gülistan Atasoy and others App no. 2017/15845, (TCC, 21 January 2021) Hüseyin El ve Nazlı Şirin El App no 2014/15345 (TCC, 07 April 2022) Mehmet Osman Kavala (2) App no. 2020/13893 (TCC, 29 December 2020) Müyesser Uğur App no. 2020/18546 (TCC, 07 April 2022) Umut Çongar App no. 2017/36905 (TCC, 21 October 2021) Yasin Agin and others App no. 2017/32534, (TCC, 21 January 2021) E. 1997/62, K. 1998/52, (TCC, 16 September 1998) E. 2012/65, K. 2012/128 (TCC, 20 September 2012) E. 2012/65, K. 2012/128 (TCC, 20 September 2012)