Talk:Freedom of religion in Turkey

Mazlumder ?

Does anyone know this NGO? It appears in the article as Mazlum-Der. Google says it's part of the IHOP, the Human Rights Joint Platform which doesn't exist on wikipedia either. Thank you, Comte0 (talk) 13:58, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

I would prefer to call the article to be created Mazlum-Der, even though the organization prefers capital letters in one word MAZLUMDER. The full name of the association is İnsan Hakları ve Mazlumlar İçin Dayanışma Derneği (in Turkish) and their own translation into English says: Organisation of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People. In other words mazlum=oppressed (person) and der is short for derneği which means association (rather than organization).

You can find the introduction in English and the text on who we are (Turkish). Some quotes (for the article?) are:

The Organisation of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People was founded by 54 people on 24 January 1991 in Ankara, Turkey. It is entirely independent of the state, and political parties or groups... MAZLUMDER carries out its activities with the help of membership subscriptions and donations made to the society. THE OBJECTIVES OF MAZLUMDER MAZLUMDER, in all its activities, adopts the fundamental principle of 'being on the side of all oppressed and against all oppression', and hence, never considers religious, ethnic, cultural, gender or similar differences of the identity of who infringe the rights of people (oppressors) and of those whose rights are violated (oppressed)... MAZLUMDER believes that human rights are universal, and that the source of human rights is the fact that individuals were created as human beings... Human rights are the rights bestowed upon by God, without any exception, to every individual with full equality in line with human dignity. It is a fact that in the modern era, human rights have been used as an instrument of domination by the Western power centres as, for example, those countries which are not keen to give economic and political concession to Western countries are punished under the pretext of their human rights records... WHAT DOES MAZLUMDER DO? In order to improve and protect human rights and freedoms, MAZLUMDER produces various kinds of publications, including periodicals, books, bulletins and visual activities. In addition, it organises seminars, conferences, panels, panel discussions, symposiums, competitions, exhibitions and other cultural activities such as films, video shows and plays. Furthermore, it commissions experts and specialists to carry out research on social, cultural, economic and political areas, and surveys to reveal public opinion, and also to publish books including translation of books from foreign languages. The Headquarters of MAZLUMDER is in Ankara, Turkey, and it has branches in Akyazı, Ankara, Batman, Bursa, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Kütahya, Malatya, Rize, Sakarya, Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon and Van. INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS MAZLUMDER has the following local/international connections : Human Rights Association (Turkey), Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Amnesty International (UK), Human Rights Watch/Helsinki (US), Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (US), International Helsinki Federation For Human Rights (Austria), International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (France), Washington Coalition for Human Rights, Washington Kurdish Institute, Non-Violence International (US), Organization for Human Dignity & Rights (Germany), Greek Helsinki Monitor&Minority Rights Group-Greece, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Danish United Nations Association, Helsinki Committee-Germany, Amnesty International Norwegian Section, Kurdish Human Rights Project (UK), The Norwegian Institute of Human Rights University of Oslo, University of Essex, Human Rights Centre (UK), Article 19 (UK), Interights (UK), Justice (UK), Law Society (UK), Minority Rights Group (UK), Liberty for Muslim World (UK), Islamic Human Rights Commission (UK), The Islamic Foundation Legal Studies Unit (UK), English Bar Human Rights Committee (UK), Human Rights Alliance (US), International Human Rights Law Group (US), American Friends Service Committee, IHRAAM (International Human Rights Association of American Minoritios), ICHR (International Council for Human Rights), Council of Europe, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, UN Commission on Human Rights (Geneva), US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Washington DC), Norwegian Helsinki Committee...

Despite this lengthy quote the original text is much longer... Sc.helm (talk) 09:47, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Jehovah's Witnesses

I would, just like to briefly state, and point out the possibility of making an update on the situation facing the Jehovah's Witnesses. According to, an Information release, in August 2007, from Jehovah's Witnesses, office of public information, states, "Turkey registers Jehovah’s Witnesses’ association. ISTANBUL, TURKEY—On Tuesday, July 31, 2007, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Turkey received a letter of certification confirming that the “Association for the Support of Jehovah’s Witnesses” has been officially registered. " - http://www.jw-media.org/newsroom/index.htm - Thank-you! --Anaccuratesource (talk) 02:59, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

General criticism

Even though the International Religious Freedom Reports of the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor are excellent I do not see much use in having an article almost entirely based on such a report (in this case the one for 2007). It should be possible to find other sources such as a 1987 Amnesty International Report that puts certain issues into historic context, even though it is outdated in respect to the legal background. Sc.helm (talk) 09:47, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Complete rewrite

I've made a (not altogether thorough) revision of this article as a subpage to my user page. I would encourage anyone to look at the page at User:Sc.helm/Freedom of religion in Turkey. To my taste the article can still be shortened. Feel free to edit my draft. If there is no major objection (let's say in a month or so) I would replace my version with the existing article. Sc.helm (talk) 15:14, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Sorry for the mistake in the formulation above. I did what I suggested on 16 October 2009: I replaced the article with my draft. It became much shorter (half the size) and more sources were included. Improvements should now be made here, instead of the user page I created and shortly shall ask to be deleted. Sc.helm (talk) 16:57, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Building churches?

Does Turkey allow the building of new churches?--Roentgenium111 (talk) 17:24, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

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