FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 24, 2015

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) calls on the Turkish government to reopen the Greek Orthodox Theological School of Halki, which was closed 44 years ago this month when the government nationalized all private institutions of higher learning.

“Without the seminary, the Greek Orthodox community cannot educate in Turkey the next generation of clergy to lead their congregants in worship, observance, and practice,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George. “The failure to reopen the Halki seminary is a stark example of the Turkish government’s failure to uphold its international obligations to protect and promote the freedom of religion or belief.”

The Turkish constitution, adopted in 1982, is based on the French model of laïcité (secularism). The constitution states that “there shall be no interference whatsoever by sacred religious feelings in state affairs and politics.”  Consequently, religious communities – neither the Sunni Muslim majority nor minority communities – have full legal status, and all communities are subject to state control. Furthermore, under Turkish secularism, religious communities have limited rights to own and maintain places of worship or other properties, train and appoint religious clergy, and offer religious education.

In recent years, the Turkish government has taken some steps that have improved religious freedom conditions for religious communities. These reforms include: returning minority properties that were expropriated over decades, lifting the ban on Islamic headscarves in public and educational institutions, and revising public school religious textbooks. Turkey also is providing safe haven to more than two million Syrian refugees, many of whom are fleeing religious persecution and sectarian violence. However, the government over the past two years also has dramatically curtailed other human rights, including the freedoms of the press, expression, and assembly, with troubling implications for the freedom of religion or belief in the country.

“Turkey has demonstrated by its response to the Syrian refugee crisis that it can be a world leader in protecting the victims of religious oppression and sectarian violence. President Erdoğan, Prime Minister Davutoğlu, and the newly elected Parliament should demonstrate that same leadership at home by prioritizing freedom of religion or belief and all other internationally protected human rights,” said Chairman George. “Unconditionally reopening Halki seminary without delay would be one step in the right direction.”

In its 2015 Annual Report, USCIRF placed Turkey in its Tier 2 category because of its restrictions on freedom of religion or belief.  For additional information and recommendations, click here to read USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report chapter on Turkey.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 13, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) calls on the government of Burma to protect religious and ethnic minorities during the post-election period and beyond.  Although Election Day largely was peaceful, the underlying electoral process was deeply flawed given the disturbing interjection of religion, the 25 percent reservation for the military of unelected seats, and the disenfranchisement of Rohingya Muslims. 

“While political transitions can spur positive transformations, uncertainty during times of change also can lead to unrest and instability.  The government of Burma must do everything in its power to stave off violence and protect those who could become targets, particularly religious and ethnic minorities,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.

Notwithstanding their eventual outcome, Burma’s elections took place in an environment of diminished rights and protections for religious and ethnic minorities.  For example, along with the many voters from the beleaguered Rohingya Muslim community who were disenfranchised and Rohingya candidates disqualified, polls were postponed or canceled in several villages throughout ethnic areas, including Kachin, Karen, Mon, and Shan states.

Additionally, a group of revered Buddhist monks manipulated religion for political ends, thereby flagrantly violating a constitutional ban on such actions.  In the weeks and months ahead of the elections, these monks, known by their local acronym Ma Ba Tha, orchestrated the passage of four discriminatory “race and religion bills” that diminish the rights of all non-Buddhists and women.  Ma Ba Tha used these laws, including those that regulate interfaith marriage and religious conversions, to promote fear and hatred against Muslims, seeking to unduly influence the political debate.  USCIRF publicly criticized these actions in August and January of this year.

“Burma cannot expect to build a democracy while sowing religious and ethnic hatred and divisions.  With these elections, the country moved the needle in its political transition, but it has not yet become a rights-respecting nation that genuinely adheres to international standards for religious freedom and related human rights,” said Chairman George. “While we congratulate Burma on this first step, we also urge the Burmese government to begin healing deep-seated divisions by protecting vulnerable religious and ethnic communities.”

USCIRF again recommended in 2015 that Burma be designated as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act for its particularly severe violations of religious freedom.  The State Department has designated Burma as a CPC since 1999, most recently in July 2014.  For more information, see the Burma Chapter (in English and Burmese) in USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report. 

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today criticized the Tajik government’s ongoing efforts to control religious activities, especially those of the country’s majority Muslim population. These efforts include the recent ban of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) due to allegations of extremism, the arrest of some 200 IRPT activists, and the alleged torture and other human rights abuses committed against IRPT detainees. 

“The government’s suppression of independent religious activities provides yet another example of the Tajik government using its overly broad extremism law against peaceful and independent Islamic religious activity or affiliation, a counterproductive approach that risks increasing radicalization rather than reducing it.  USCIRF believes that these actions, along with its ban of the IRPT, should guarantee Tajikistan a CPC designation from the State Department, a designation which USCIRF recommends in our 2015 Annual Report.  Official efforts to suppress the IRPT often have been intertwined with government repression of Islamic practice.  USCIRF urges Secretary of State Kerry to raise religious freedom concerns when he arrives tomorrow in Tajikistan,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.

The legal environment for religious freedom in Tajikistan has deteriorated recently, largely to the implementation of the 2009 religion law which: establishes onerous registration requirements for all religious groups; criminalizes all unregistered religious activity as well as private religious education and proselytism; requires official permission for religious groups to provide religious instruction and communicate with foreign co-religionists; and imposes state controls over the content, publication, and import of all religious materials.

The Tajik government imposes additional restrictions on Muslims such as: limiting the number and size of mosques; closing hundreds of unregistered mosques and prayer rooms; and demolishing three unregistered mosques in Dushanbe. The Tajik government pays imams’ salaries in the largest mosques and restricts the preaching of sermons to these mosques.  Muslim prayer officially is allowed only in mosques, cemeteries, homes, and shrines. As of October 2015, Tajik authorities reportedly are prohibiting government employees from attending Friday prayers.

The IRPT was the only legal Islamist political party in the former Soviet Union.  It was granted such status as part of the country’s post-civil war peace settlement, and for 15 years was represented in Tajikistan’s parliament. The IRPT called for respecting Tajikistan’s secular constitution and international religious freedom commitments.  It opposed the government’s decision in 2005 to close eight mosques near the Uzbek border and its destruction in 2007 of mosques in the capital, Dushanbe.  Last year, the IRPT backed a parliamentary initiative that would allow children to attend mosques, which Tajik law currently forbids, and in 2015 it criticized a government campaign against beards and headscarves. 

The 200 IRPT members imprisoned since September include former parliamentarian Saidumar Husaini, IRPT Deputy Chair Mahmadali Hait, journalist Hikmatulloh Saifullohzoda, Islamic scholar Zubaidullah Roziq, and many IRPT regional activists. They have been denied access to their families, doctors, and lawyers.  The day after jailed IRPT deputy chairman Saidumar Husain told Buzurgmehr Yorov, his defense attorney, that he had been tortured, Yorov was arrested as was another IRPT attorney.  Jailed IRPT lawyer Zarafo Rahmoni reportedly has been severely abused and had threatened to commit suicide unless she was released.  IPRT leader Muhiddin Kabiri, forced into foreign exile, asserted that official extremism charges against his party were false and politically motivated. Several days ago, many of Kabiri’s relatives and his driver were tortured into confessing involvement in a deputy Tajik defense minister’s violent attack on a police station.    

The U.S. delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, among others, also have expressed concern about the Tajik government’s actions against the IRPT.  USCIRF has recommended since 2012 that Tajikistan be named a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) because of its numerous harsh laws and policies that severely restrict freedom of religion or belief. 

To read USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report chapter on Tajikistan, click here.