US criticises Turkey on religious freedom

A US government advisory panel called Tuesday for Turkey to be put on a blacklist over religious freedom, faulting the close ally's treatment of religious groups and especially minorities. In an annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the State Department to add Turkey and Tajikistan to a list of "countries of particular concern" subject to sanctions if they do not improve. But four of the nine members of the panel publicly dissented from the view on Turkey, a staunchly secular state. The State Department decides whether to add nations to the blacklist and has previously disagreed with the panel's advice. In the report, the commission said that Turkey has imposed "systematic and egregious limitations" on all religious communities in Turkey and singled out the status of Christians and the situation in Northern Cyprus. "The state's strict control of religion in the public sphere significantly restricts religious freedom, especially for non-Muslim religious minority communities," the report said. The panel said that Turkey has interfered in the internal governance of the Greek Orthodox Church and renewed US calls for Ankara to reopen the community's Halki theological school, closed during a 1971 nationalisation of education. The dissenting commissioners said that they "strongly" opposed the recommendation, saying that Turkey - unlike many other countries on the blacklist - has not engaged in torture or disappearances over religious belief. "To the contrary, Turkey has begun to rectify many of the religious freedom restrictions that have been in place for some time," the dissenting commissioners wrote. The State Department lists eight nations as countries of particular concern on religious freedom - China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. The commission renewed calls for the State Department to add Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam to the list. It also recommended Turkey and Tajikistan, unlike in the previous year's report. The latest report said Tajikistan has carried out "systematic, ongoing and egregious violations" of religious freedom, including imprisoning individuals and destroying a synagogue, church and three mosques in recent years.