Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ISTANBUL369
2006-03-14 15:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Istanbul
Cable title:  

ISTANBUL JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AWAIT LEGAL STATUS

Tags:  PHUM PREL TU 
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VZCZCXRO8915
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHIT #0369/01 0731524
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 141524Z MAR 06
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4437
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000369 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2026
TAGS: PHUM PREL TU
SUBJECT: ISTANBUL JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AWAIT LEGAL STATUS


Classified By: U.S. Consul General Deborah K. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000369

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2026
TAGS: PHUM PREL TU
SUBJECT: ISTANBUL JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AWAIT LEGAL STATUS


Classified By: U.S. Consul General Deborah K. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: Jehovah's Witnesses continue to face
obstacles from the Turkish bureaucracy in their efforts to
form a legal association. Their members also face short
prison terms for refusing to carry arms as part of their
mandatory military service, due to their status as
conscientious objectors. Their problems are similar to those
faced by other religious groups not recognized by the Turkish
state. End Summary.

Fighting the Bureaucracy: What are we Missing?
-------------- ---


2. (C) Turkey's new associations law, adopted in 2004 as
part of the EU harmonization process, enabled religious
groups to form associations for the first time. Under the
law, groups must register their charters with the state in
order to be officially recognized. The Jehovah's Witnesses,
active in Turkey since 1930 and numbering approximately
3,000, submitted the required charter in July 2005, but
received a negative response one month later. Jehovah's
Witness members James Andrick and Arbra Knapp shared with us
the letter sent to them by the Istanbul Directorate of
Associations. The letter stated that the group's proposed
charter violated Article 24 of the Constitution, without
explaining how. Moreover, the letter threatened founding
members with a prison term of one to three years for alleged
constitutional violation.


3. (C) In January 2006, an Istanbul prosecutor issued a
written decision determining that the Jehovah's Witness
charter did not violate the Constitution. In light of that
decision, Andrick and Knapp told us that if municipal
authorities do not approve their association application in
about two weeks, their attorneys will contact the Directorate
of Associations requesting a response. Municipal authorities
could appeal the prosecutor's decision.

An Exercise in Frustration
--------------


4. (C) Jehovah's Witness contacts say Turkish authorities
had asked them to "water down" their required mission
statement, by removing religious references and calling
themselves an NGO instead of a religious organization. This,

they were told, would help them achieve recognition. The
organization resisted this suggested change, but did prepare
a new charter accepting more technical changes suggested by
Directorate of Associations officials. Through contacts
claim they received assurances that the charter would be
approved within a week of its August 2005 submission, some
five months later, the request remains pending.


5. (C) Istanbul's Provincial Associations Director Eyup
Dursun Ergur, told us March 3 that the Jehovah's Witness
charter as originally submitted made reference to a "higher
council" to which the group would be responsible, and that
Turkish law does not allow for such an arrangement. (Note:
He may be alluding to a portion of the charter text that
says, "the purposes of the association are religious,
informational, and charitable, including to be at the service
of...the religious body of Christian organizations known as
Jehovah's Witnesses..." End note.) Ergur posited that
allowing such a provision could create a precedent that could
serve (unspecified) "fringe" groups in the future. He
indicated he would be content to allow the courts to settle
whether or not the application satisfies Turkey's legal
requirements before moving forward.


6. (C) Ergur expressed disappointment that statements he had
intended to make "off the record" last year to visiting
Jehovah's Witnesses' lawyers had appeared in letters sent to
GOT officials. He lamented that the lawyers had not trusted
him and his approach as he claimed he was sincerely searching
for a solution. He had hoped they could be more "patient,"
he said, at one point adding that the process was for their
protection -- "we just had a priest shot in Trabzon." In
response to our observation that groups seeking to register
themselves may become frustrated absent a transparent
compliance process, Ergur offered his view that some
(unspecified individuals) in the Ministry of Interior might
not want to see the application approved. He did not
speculate on next steps for this particular application.

Administrative hassles and worse
--------------


7. (SBU) Their continuing lack of legal standing makes it
impossible for Jehovah's Witness organizations to open a bank

ISTANBUL 00000369 002 OF 002


account, establish a utility hook-up in the organization's
name, or acquire property for religious services. Moreover,
authorities have repeatedly sealed the doors of Jehovah's
Witness Kingdom Halls on the grounds that the groups were not
authorized to hold religious meetings.


8. (C) Contacts also advised of more troubling challenges.
One adherent claimed that when registering for a passport, he
was arrested for not having sung the Turkish National Anthem
several years previously. He was detained for several hours
before being released, and ultimately received his passport,
but said officials told him he would be "watched." We
experienced firsthand a blackout while meeting with members
of the group; candles were immediately produced, with
contacts telling us they routinely faced such power cuts,
unlike their neighbors. Among the community's gravest
complaints is a December 2005 bomb threat by an unspecified
party to a Jehovah's Witness congregation in the
Gaziosmanpasa district of Istanbul.

Taking on the Armed Forces
--------------


9. (SBU) Jehovah's Witnesses have been arrested in the past
for publicly preaching, though most detentions have lasted
only several hours. Other adherents have been arrested for
not completing their compulsory military duty, eventually
performing the service - sometimes unarmed duty - following a
prison sentence of up to one month in several cases.
Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently
decided in favor of a secular (non-Jehovah's Witness)
conscientious objector in Turkey, who had served an aggregate
of nearly two years in jail following his various attempts to
avoid military service. The ruling stated that Turkey had
violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights
("prohibition of degrading treatment"),and awarded the
objector 10,000 Euros in pecuniary damages.


10. (SBU) Comment: Based on its interpretation of the 1923
Lausanne Treaty, the Turkish state recognizes only three
minority religious communities -- Greek Orthodox Christians,
Armenian Orthodox Christians, and Jews. The problems facing
Turkey's Jehovah's Witnesses are similar to those
experienced by other non-recognized religious communities.
Several Protestant congregations, for example, tell us they
have submitted applications for legal recognition that have
been similarly refused. While a number of groups have told
us they are reluctant to engage in the judicial arena,
fearing it will draw unwanted attention to their activities
and members, others seek bureaucratic alternatives, such as
banding with kindred groups around the country to form a
foundation, rather than an association. (Note: Establishing
a foundation requires a group have significant funds and is
cost-prohibitive for many, but this status reportedly allows
more operational flexibility in some areas, such as
involvement in commercial activities.) The Jehovah's
Witnesses' mounting frustration may lead them to seek
recourse through Turkish courts and -- they have hinted --
ultimately the ECHR, for a solution. End comment.
JONES