A/55/280/Add.1 136. When it comes to other legislative provisions, the Special Rapporteur is pleased to note that the Criminal Code punishes any attack on religion and religious manifestations. It should be noted that the penalty is increased in the case of defamation through the media. The Civil Code guarantees the principle of equality between the sexes and the Special Rapporteur looks forward with interest to the results of current efforts to prepare a new Civil Code. 137. Among the laws dealing with freedom of religion and belief, the Special Rapporteur is pleased to note that the 1965 law on the public service and the 1973 law on national education enshrine the constitutional principle of equal access to the public service and to national education, while the 1994 media law seeks to ban any act of blasphemy. 138. Other legislation, however, raises serious questions. For example, the law permitting the authorities to reject any given or family name considered contrary to the national culture would appear to reflect specific limitations and bias against minority communities, inspired by a policy of Turkization. Again, legislation on foundations and on the “non-utilization” of the property of non-Muslim minorities allows the State, in practice, to confiscate these properties. The Special Rapporteur recommends revision of the law on given names and of the law on unused properties to ensure that any expropriation by the State is based, first, on the principle of nonusurpation and, as far as possible, on the principle of consultation or consensus with the groups and communities concerned. 139. Finally, in accordance with the resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights (for example Resolution 1998/77 recognizing the right of everyone to have conscientious objections to military service as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and General Commentary No. 22 (48) of 20 July 1993 of the Commission on Human Rights, and on the basis of the Turkish Constitution, which enshrines freedom of belief, the Special Rapporteur believes that regional characteristics and tensions are not sufficient to justify, in Turkey or anywhere else, a categorical rejection of conscientious objections, and recommends that legislation be adopted to guarantee the right to conscientious objections, particularly for religious beliefs. 140. The Treaty of Lausanne guarantees the principle of equality for all citizens, including non-Muslims, in the enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms, including religious freedom. Moreover, it accords to non-Muslims a minority status entitled to civil, political and cultural rights. This Treaty, however, suffers from certain gaps and weaknesses in the sense that the minorities concerned are not specified in even an indicative way. A logical interpretation would include all non-Muslim communities that were present in Turkey at the time the Treaty of Lausanne was signed. Yet the interpretation given by the Turkish authorities is restrictive and limited to the Armenians, the Orthodox Greeks and the Jews, and thus does not cover other communities that existed in Turkey even before the establishment of the Turkish Republic, such as the Assyro-Chaldeans and the non-Armenian Catholics. It is important to note that the notion of minority in enshrined only in the Treaty of Lausanne and is not recognized in any Turkish legislation, which means that minority Muslim communities and nonArmenian Protestant communities that have recently been established in Turkey are excluded. 141. The Treaty of Lausanne also declares general principles that require legislation and regulation to give them effect. It will be recalled that article 37 of the Treaty commits Turkey to ensure that provisions concerning non-Muslim minorities will be recognized as basic laws. Yet the minorities recognized as covered by the Treaty of Lausanne are affected, on one hand, by a juridical void in certain areas and, on the other hand, by legislation, regulations, jurisprudence and internal practice inconsistent with the Treaty of Lausanne (see sect. III and IV). The Special Rapporteur therefore recommends that the authorities accord the Treaty of Lausanne its rightful scope, and that they give it full application in domestic law and national practice. The Special Rapporteur also recommends to the Working Group on Minorities of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights that it decide, in light of international law, the interpretation that should be given to the notion of minorities in the context of the Treaty of Lausanne, and in particular that it identify the communities covered by the Treaty. 142. The policy of the Turkish State in matters of religion and belief, it must be said, is exceedingly complex and stands in sharp contrast with the categorical assertion by certain authorities that such policy is a model of tolerance and non-discrimination. 25