Friday, November 10, 2006

Turkey Passes Religious Foundations Law, Partially Meeting EU Concerns

Turkey's Parliament yesterday passed the Religious Foundations Law that improves the rights of non-Muslim religious minorities in the country. Reuters reports that the European Union had pressed for Turkey to pass legislation, but this law still fails to provide compensation for religious groups whose property has been sold to third parties after being taken over by the state. Earlier this week, the European Union published a report that also called on Turkey to lift restrictions on the training of Christian clergy.