Freedom of Religion, the ECtHR and Grassroots Mobilization on Religious Education in Turkey

Abstract

This paper examines grassroots mobilizations in Turkey against the government's policies on religion and education (RE), and the potential effects of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) on their mobilization. Specifically, it follows the ways in which grassroots actors frame their discourses of secularism and freedom of religion in education during a period when the Turkish government is aiming to increase the role of Sunni-Islam in national education, while at the same time refusing to implement ECtHR decisions regarding RE. Drawing on empirical research, it analyzes the role the ECtHR and its case law play in the diverse rights claims and discourses of three different types of mobilizations that is going on in the field of RE: (i) legal mobilization, and right to exemption and freedom from religion, (ii) political mobilization, and new discourses of pluralism and secularism, (iii) monitoring and policy-based mobilization and national and international advocacy for pluralism and equality in education.

The dejudicialization of religious freedom?

“…Consistent with an institutional theory of JRF, actors who have been frustrated by courts or the implementation of court decisions have turned their attention to other avenues for seeking redress (e.g. Nielsen, 2015;Özgül, 2019).…”

The Effects of Judgements by the European Court of Human Rights on Religious Education in England and Turkey

“…There have been studies which have focused on the direct and indirect effects of the ECtHR judgements on the responding states (Lied, 2009;Özgül, 2019). Moreover, there have been studies which have focused on the general implications of the ECtHR judgements for RE in European countries (Evans, 2008;Relaño, 2010;Cumper, 2011;Leigh, 2012;Fancourt 2017aFancourt , 2021, but these judgements' wide-ranging effects within different countries need more attention.…”