Turkey | June 26, 2024
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Turkey has ditched the requirement for citizens to name their religion on identity cards as part of the country's bid to join the European Union, according to a report by Christianity Today on 18 February 2016. The law was passed in January after a Christian member of parliament said the system discriminated against non-Muslims. The new ID card will remove the religion category and the blue or pink color-coding to denote gender. The driving force behind this change was Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of parliament for the Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP), who complained that he was repeatedly discriminated against when people noted he was a Christian.
Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, sees the move by the Turkish state as a positive step for the religious minorities in the country: "Turkey was about the last country in Europe to still have an entry on the ID card for religion. As confirmed by parliamentarian Paylan, the presence of the religion tag did have many negative repercussions for non-Muslims. His comment leaves little to the imagination: "˜When they see a name like Garo that isn't familiar, they look to find the religion listed. When they see that I am listed as a Christian, one day's work won't get done for a week or 10 days... I am repeatedly discriminated against.""
Rolf Zeegers continues: "Turkey announced this move to present itself in a positive manner, but it is worth digging a little deeper. Middle East Eye, an online news portal covering events in the Middle East, noted in an article dated 17 February 2016 that religion will still be registered on the ID card's chip. For those with the right equipment, it will therefore remain possible to discriminate against religious minorities."
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