A/55/280/Add.1 community was fully satisfactory. They also indicated that Turkish legislation, jurisprudence and administrative procedures posed no problem for them, but that they were sometimes employed in a discriminatory manner against other non-Muslim communities. B. Minority communities not recognized by the Turkish authorities as minorities and/or as covered by the Treaty of Lausanne 99. The Special Rapporteur looked into the situation of non-Armenian Catholic Protestants, as well as that of the Syriacs. 1. Catholics and Protestants 100. While the non-Armenian Catholic and Protestant communities are not recognized by the authorities as minorities and/or as covered by the Treaty of Lausanne, their followers must enjoy the constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and worship that are accorded to all citizens. Apart from the problems stemming from the lack of corporate legal status for the Catholic Church (despite the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1960) and the Protestant Church, religious manifestations face other difficulties as well. (a) The Catholic community 101. The Catholic community enjoys freedom of worship, but only within confined spaces, i.e. essentially within Catholic places of worship and other religious establishments. Thus, any pastoral work among Muslims may be regarded as religious propaganda and incitement, and hence liable to be prohibited by the police. Proselytizing is in fact severely discouraged: this reflects the position of the authorities and their narrow interpretation of secularism, but it also betrays a general intolerance among important elements of society who tend to see in any public show of faith, other than Muslim, an attempt at conversion, which is in the popular mind unacceptable. 102. In the case of priests and nuns, as with other minorities, the wearing of religious habit in public is formally prohibited (apart from the senior religious leadership). Similarly, the Catholic Church is not allowed its own religious training institutions. 20 Difficulties have been encountered in obtaining visas and visitor permits for foreign religious personnel. Moreover, the appointment of bishops is constrained by legislation prohibiting foreign authorities from designating the leader of a religious community in Turkey. 103. With respect to property, it was reported that the courts and the General Directorate of Foundations were moving ahead with further confiscations. It was noted that in 1993 a “joint commission” was created to conduct political consultations: these were held at the Vatican in 1993 and 1996, and the outcome included an academic cooperation agreement between the University of Ankara and the Jesuit Consortium Gregorianum and the reopening of the chapel at Tarsus (which the State had previously been using as a military depot). In most cases, however, the State has taken possession of the property or prohibited its use for other purposes. 104. With respect to educational establishments, the rule requiring appointment of a headmaster from the minority community and a Turkish assistant headmaster remains in force. As regards the compulsory religion and ethics course, exemptions may be granted for Christian children. However, since most pupils in Catholic schools are Muslims, Christian parents are hesitant to seek such exemption for their children, for fear that they will be criticized or feel excluded by their Muslim classmates. 105. Catholic representatives concluded that their community was in a very precarious position and that it was essential to secure a clearly recognized legal status for the Catholic Church. It was suggested that the refusal of the authorities to yield on this point, on the grounds that this would be unconstitutional and might provoke similar demands by Muslims, was unfounded, since the Muslim community was in fact represented by the Department of Religious Affairs. The problem was said to lie with the interpretation of Turkish secularism, which seeks to control religion and relegate it to the private individual sphere. While accepting that the purpose of Turkish legislation is to combat Muslim extremism, these representatives noted that the law also affects non-Muslims who seek nothing more than to exercise their rights, including their religious rights, without interference by the authorities. Finally, they complained that the Catholic Church is compelled to fight continuous battles just to maintain what is, in fact, an unsatisfactory status quo.