Turkish identity card
The Turkish ID card (Turkish: Nüfus Cüzdanı) is compulsory for all Turkish citizens from birth. Cards for males and females have a different colour. The front shows the first and last name of the holder, first names of both parents, birth date and place, and an 11 digit ID number. The back shows marital status, religious affiliation, the region of the country of origin, and the date of issue of the card. On February 2, 2010 the European Court of Human Rights ruled in a 6 to 1 vote that the religious affiliation section of the Turkish identity card violated articles 6, 9, and 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory. The ruling should coerce the Turkish government to completely omit religious affiliation on future identity cards.[1] The Turkish police are allowed to ask any person to show ID, and refusing to comply may lead to arrest. It can be used for international travel to Northern Cyprus instead of a passport.
History
Identity cards, theoretically obligatory for all citizens, male and female, existed already in the late Ottoman Empire. They were known in Turkish as nüfus tezkeresi.[2] To the Slavic subjects of the Ottoman state they were known colloquially as nofuz (Bulgarian: нофуз).[3]
New identity cards
Ministry of Interior of Turkey is still working for release an EU-like identity cards for all Turkish citizens. New identity cards will be biometric as well as passport, and can be used as bank card, bus ticket or at international trips.
Notes
- ↑ Sinan Işik v. Turkey, no. 21924/05, European Court of Human Rights, 2010-I Récueil des arrêts et décisions http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Reports_Recueil_2010-I.pdf. pp. 317-364.
- ↑ Chris Gratien, Ottoman Identity Card; includes images of the cards
- ↑ Kunchov, Vasil (1900), Makedonii͡a, Sofia: Bulgarskoto Knizhevno Druzhestvo, p. 135 (Bulgarian)
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