European Human Rights Court Says Religion on Identity Cards Violates ECHR

In Sinan Isik v. Turkey [in French], (Eur. Ct. Hum. Rts., Feb. 2, 2010), the European Court of Human Rights, by a vote of 6-1, upheld a complaint by petitioner that the government of Turkey refused to replace "Islam" on his identity card with "Alevi." Before 2006, Turkish identity cards were required to indicate religious identity. Now they may be left blank. The court held that both the pre-2006 practice and the current one violate Art. 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of thought, conscience and religion). The court held that the current requirement of applying to authorities to have the religious identification block left blank, as well as including religion on identity cards for any reason, violate the principle that one cannot be required to manifest one's religion or belief. A press release from the Court in English summarizes the court's holding. Today's Zaman reports on the decision.