Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

The applicants are 14 Turkish nationals: Mr Mansur Yalçın, Mr Namık Sofuoğlu, Ms Serap Topçu, Mr Ali Yüce, Mr Ali Kaplan, Ms Eylem Onat Karataş, Mr Hüseyin Kaya, Ms Sevinç Ilgın, Mr İsmail Ilgın, Mr Cafer Aktan, Mr Hakkı Saygı, Mr Kemal Kuzucu, Mr Yüksel Polat and Mr Hasan Kılıç. They are members of the Alevi religious community, a minority and heterodox branch of Islam, and complain that the content of the mandatory religious culture and ethics classes in schools was based on Sunni doctrine.

On 22 June 2005 they applied to the Ministry of National Education for the introduction of a consultation with leaders of the Alevi community with a view to reorganising the curriculum of “mandatory classes on religious culture and ethics” and the incorporation into that teaching of Alevi culture and philosophy. As their proposal was refused, they referred the matter to the Ankara Administrative Court which, in a judgment of 1 October 2009, dismissed their application, referring to an expert’s report which indicated in particular that the curriculum did not give preferential treatment to any given faith but took a multi-denominational approach. The applicants’ appeal on points of law was subsequently dismissed by a judgment served on 2 August 2010 of the Supreme Administrative Court, which found that the judgment of the first-instance court had been compliant with both procedure and legislation.

Relying on Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education), the applicants complain about the content of the mandatory classes on religious culture and ethics in schools. Mansur Yalçın, Yüksel Polat and Hasan Kılıç also rely on Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) in this connection, taken together with Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination).

Press release ECHR 248 (2014) 10/09/2014