Izzettin Dogan v. Turkey

Alevism is a religious faith associated with Islam. In Turkey, Alevism had deep historical and societal roots, and followers of the Alevi faith were the second-largest religious group behind Sunni Muslims. Izzettin Dogan and others in the Alevi community (collectively, the Alevis) (plaintiffs) brought a case against Turkish authorities (defendants) in the European Court of Human Rights, asserting that the Turkish government had not sufficiently protected the Alevis’ right to practice their religion. The Alevis asserted that the Alevis had asked the Turkish government to provide the Alevis with religious services, recognize and recruit Alevi leaders as civil servants, grant Alevi ceremonial sites the status of places of worship, and make government subsidies available to the Alevi community. However, the government had refused the Alevis’ requests. The government contended that the Alevi faith was not a religion like Sunni Islam but a mystical group within the Islamic faith. As such, the government asserted that Alevism was not comparable to Sunnism and that the Alevis’ ceremonial sites were not places of worship. The Alevis asserted that the government was favoring the Sunni majority and discriminating against the Alevis and other religious minority groups without any reasonable basis. The Alevis thus asserted violations of (1) Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the convention), which guarantees the rights to freedom of religion and the freedom to manifest one’s religion without needless governmental limitation, and (2) Article 14 of the convention, which guarantees the right to enjoy the rights and freedoms secured by the convention without discrimination based on religion or other grounds.