A/55/280/Add.1 be conducted freely, provided they do not violate the provisions of article 14 of the Constitution. No one may be prevented from participating in religious ceremonies, or accused for reason of his or her religious beliefs and convictions. Education and instruction in religion and ethics shall be conducted under State supervision and control. Instruction in religious culture and moral education shall be compulsory in the curricula of primary and secondary schools. Other religious education and instruction shall be subject to the individual’s own desire, and in the case of minors, to the request of their legal representative. No one shall be allowed to exploit or abuse religion or religious feelings, or things held sacred by religion, in any manner whatsoever, for the purpose of personal or political influence, or for even partially basing the fundamental, social, economic, political and legal order of the State on religious tenets. 13. The Constitution thus protects both believers and non-believers. The High Court of Appeals, in its decision of 26 May 1986, ruled that Jehovahs Witnesses enjoy the protection of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The President of the Constitutional Court told the Special Rapporteur that the prohibition on religious parties was based on article 24 of Constitution. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stressed that, quite apart from the Treaty of Lausanne (see sect. II.B), the rights of religious minorities are guaranteed by articles 10 and 24 of the Constitution. 2. The principle of secularism 14. The Constitution, in its preamble and in the provisions cited above, protects the principle of secularism (already enshrined in the Constitution of 1936), as a fundamental principle of the State. The Constitutional Court has provided this definition of secularism: From a legal point of view, in the classical sense, secularism means that religion may not interfere with State (affairs) and the latter not with religious affairs. According to the Constitutional Court, secularism in Turkey is based on the following four points: Religion is not to be effective and dominant in State affairs. Where religion relates to the spiritual life of the individual, a constitutional guarantee recognizes unlimited freedom without any discrimination. Where religion goes to the spiritual life of the individual and relates to actions and behaviour which affect societal life, restrictions may be imposed and the abuse and exploitation of religion may be prohibited, with a view to protecting public order, public safety and the public interest. As the guardian of public order and public rights, the State may be given the power to control and supervise with respect to religious rights and freedoms. 15. Despite this interpretation by the Constitutional Court, the principle of secularism in Turkey is highly complex, as the following points will illustrate. (a) The structuring of the religious sphere 16. While non-Muslim minorities recognized by the Turkish Government enjoy autonomous legal status in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne, the State is directly responsible for administering Muslim religious affairs, through the Department of Religious Affairs, established in 1924 within the office of the Prime Minister and recognized as a constitutional institution in 1961. According to Law No. 429, the purpose of the Department is to carry out works relating to beliefs, worship and moral principles in Islam, to enlighten the public in respect of religion and to manage places of worship. Article 136 of the 1982 Constitution, referring to the Department of Religious Affairs, defines, in particular, the principles of secularism that are to be observed by the Department in the exercise of its duties: The Department of Religious Affairs, which is within the general administration, shall exercise its duties prescribed in its particular law, in accordance with the principles of secularism, removed from all political views and ideas and aiming at national solidarity and integrity. In other words, this is a case where a political system based on secularism entrusts public institutions with State prerogatives to handle matters relating to one religion, Islam. This State involvement in Muslim religious affairs poses a further problem in that it seems to promote a single conception of Islam, the 5