Top Turkish Court: Religious Education Not Compulsory
One of the strange things about the Turkish educational system, in my eyes, is that religious education is compulsory. That’s awkward for a country that calls itself laicist, in my opinion at least. And it’s all the more awkward because it’s not just religious education which is compulsory, it focuses on Sunni Islam. Well, the Turkish high court seems to agree with me: it has now ruled that education classes can’t be compulsory, in its current format at least.
The case came to court because two parents filed a complaint. They are Alevis, a kind of Shi’ite Muslims, and they objected to the Sunni Islamic religious classes. Why should their children be taught how to be good Sunni Muslims, or better; how to think and live like Sunni Muslims?
Good question.
Such a good question that the court decided to answer it. And the answer is “a major victory for Turkey’s Alevi community.” They “have long complained of discrimination and forced assimilation through mandatory courses on Sunni Islam.”
Now, the far majority of Turks are Sunni Muslims. So, if you want to focus on religion it’s logical, me thinks, to teach about Sunni Islam. But if a person isn’t a Sunni, well, there should be a different approach. Either, then, teach about different kinds of sects or don’t teach at all. Or, better, don’t make it compulsory.
And that’s basically what the court said as well. “For the Religious Culture and Morality course to be mandatory under its current content is against the law,” the Council of State ruled.
Turkey’s education ministry now has two choices: it either has to teach about all, or at least more, religions / faiths or it has to make the “Religious Culture and Morality” course non-mandatory.
A good decision, in my eyes.
The AK Parti, meanwhile, doesn’t like the decision… at all.
Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy leader, Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, speaking yesterday during his visit to New York, said he believed the court’s decision was wrong, arguing that the Council of State exceeded its authority.
He said the Council of State did not have the power to assess the Constitution. Fırat also said that the body that would implement the European Court of Human Rights decision was the Constitutional Court, not the Council of State.
He said he believed the decision would be corrected.
I think that this ruling is quite a blow for Erdogan et al.
Ouch, those courts! Eh!
What makes me laugh till my tummy starts aching is that these Islamists, a.k.a. ’liberal democrats’ of Turkey appear to be inspired mostly by the American system. When in fact their stated goal is indoctrination of minds when they are young and amenable. (Ref. for ’stated’: Necmettin Erbakan)