A/55/280/Add.1 the Alawi rite, in the field of religious and ethical education, for example, but also in the organization and operations of the Department of Religious Affairs. 129. Thus, despite the proclaimed secular nature of the State, the treatment of Islam in Turkey, as described above, tends to give a quasi-official status, or at least a sufficiently prominent position, to Hanafi Islam. Secularism, the cornerstone of the Turkish State, also appears to be compromised by the optional mention of religion on identity cards, and by compulsory religious and ethics instruction. Consistent with the jurisprudence of the Commission on Human Rights, in its General Commentary No. 22 (48), the Special Rapporteur is not to pronounce himself on any State’s system of government, whether theocratic or secular, but on its implications in terms of respect, i.e. nonviolation, of rights pertaining to religion, belief and the status of minorities. In this light, there are indeed problems of varying degrees of importance, as described above. 130. On this point, the Special Rapporteur considers it essential that the jurisprudence of the Turkish Constitutional Court relating to secularism should be clearly and fully reflected in State policy concerning religion, in order to prevent any interference that would run counter to the limitations prescribed by international law. 131. On the issue of wearing the Islamic veil, in particular, such an approach would provide the authorities with a solid legal basis for addressing their legitimate concerns over the political exploitation of religion, while allowing free expression of dress within legitimate limits established to this end. 132. With respect to the compulsory religious and ethics courses called for in the Constitution, these pose a problem in that they affect: • Non-Hanafi Muslims who are subjected to instruction that is based on a Hanafi conception of Islam and that does not reflect the diversity of Islamic rites within Turkish society; • Non-Muslims, both indirectly, by promoting what most non-governmental sources regard as a message that is biased against non-Muslim beliefs, and directly, for those who decline to seek an exemption for fear of ostracism or public pressure, or who may find their exemption refused by certain officials; and 24 • Non-believers, mainly within the Muslim community. 133. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the authorities take steps to make education an effective vehicle for promoting human rights values, so as to help build a culture of tolerance and thus encourage behaviour consistent with tolerance and nondiscrimination. Turkish education, and in particular the compulsory religious and ethics courses, should be free of any ideological framework and any political bias in favour of a particular religious persuasion, so as to guarantee the principle of educational pluralism (see in particular the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in the Campbell and Consans decision of 25 February 1982, and the Kjeldsen and others ruling of 7 December 1976), and thereby respect the constitutional principle that all citizens are equal. It is also important to ensure that internal beliefs themselves may not be regulated or, in other words, that freedom from coercion to have or to adopt a religion or belief and the liberty of parents to ensure religious and moral education cannot be restricted, in accordance with law and with international jurisprudence. 134. With respect to the optional mention of religion on identity cards, the Special Rapporteur recommends that European jurisprudence be followed, and he awaits the results of the steps announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to eliminate this mention. 135. The Turkish Constitution makes the nationalism of Ataturk the foundation stone of the State and elevates it in practice into an official ideology, or even a new religion, with the status of absolute truth. The terms of the issue as formulated in the jurisprudence of the Commission on Human Rights discussed above apply here as well and thus raise the question of respect for the rights pertaining to religion and belief and to minorities. There have been violations against Muslim communities and non-Muslim minorities, arising primarily from a narrow interpretation and application of the principle of nationalism, i.e. in the form of Turkization, that is not always compatible with the right to tolerance and to non-discrimination. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the authorities should establish a clear principle whereby nationalism is not to be used against minority religious communities.