The statement was delivered by Onur Romano, Director of International Relations of Ateizm Derneği, during the General Debate under Item 4 at the 61st session of the Council: a segment reserved for human rights situations requiring urgent international attention. The statement challenged the international perception of Türkiye as a secular democracy, arguing instead that the state has created a legal environment that actively criminalizes the right to hold no religious belief.
At the heart of the issue is Article 216(3) of the Turkish Penal Code. This legislation has been repeatedly weaponized against Ateizm Derneği, which remains the only legally recognized atheist human rights body in the Muslim world. The statement detailed a decade-long pattern of harassment, beginning with the politically motivated convictions of the organization’s founder in 2014 and the 2017 imprisonment of board member Barbaros Şansal, who was jailed under Article 216 after surviving a mob-lynching at Istanbul Airport.
Onur Romano delivering the statement by video
The narrative of repression has only accelerated in recent years. In 2024, the state’s religious authority targeted linguist Sevan Nişanyan for online comments regarding the call to prayer, while lawyer and volunteer Feyza Altun faced arrest and a travel ban for social media posts criticizing Sharia law. By 2025, the crackdown extended to the arts, with the editor of the satirical magazine LEMAN being detained in handcuffs over a cartoon – an act preceded by a public warning from President Erdoğan. Most recently, in 2026, the Ministry of Education launched sweeping probes against 168 writers and academics for the simple act of signing a pro-secularism letter.
The joint statement underscores a growing accountability gap in Türkiye, where religious property and institutions are shielded from criticism while the fundamental rights of the non-religious are treated as a threat to national order. Humanists International continues to stand with Ateizm Derneği in demanding that the Turkish government uphold its constitutional commitment to secularism and protect freedom of thought for all citizens, regardless of their belief or lack thereof.
As part of Humanists International’s ongoing work, the annual Freedom of Thought Report chronicles the right to freedom of religion or belief, including whether a country has “blasphemy” or defacto “blasphemy” laws. Such laws have been deemed to be against international human rights law. However, the 2025 edition of the Report shows that a person can still face imprisonment for “blasphemy” in over 60 countries.
Featured Photo by Michael Jerrard on Unsplash
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