FORMER DIPLOMAT AND CHP DEPUTY SUKRU ELEKDAG
By AYLA GANIOGLU

Turkish Probe
November 7, 2004

ANKARA – Former diplomat, Parliamentary Foreign Commission member
and opposition Republican People’s Party deputy Sukru Elekdag, when
asked about the debate on whether Kurds and Alewis should be considered
minorities, said the example of France should be followed. Elekdag said
the attitude towards ethnic groups was the same in Turkey and France.

Speaking to TDN, Elekdag said: “In France, just like the Republic of
Turkey, a unitary nation-state exists. In such a state, the guiding
principle of the system is the the unity and indivisibility of the
state, nation and the country. Turkey, by adhering to the guidelines
provided by the Lausanne Treaty, does not accept a concept of minority
based on ethnicity or religion, just like France.”

France, which was one of the founders of the European Union,
had established a unitary state and had implemented a concept of
citizenship not based on ethnic identity, he said. Elekdag noted:
“France, in addition to having various religious groups, also has
local ethnic groups in Brittany, Bask, Catalan, Oksitan, Savuaca,
Flemish, German and Italian communities. However, France refuses
to say it has minorities and believes ethnic characteristics are
something that can be practiced in private.”

Elekdag said every citizen in France had the right to respect, protect
and develop his or her cultural values. However, it did not mean this
right was a collective one of an ethnic group, he said, noting that
this was a right of an individual. He said, “No one in the EU objects
to the French system or accuses them of medieval mentality.”

Armenian, Greek or Jewish

Elekdag said the founder of the Republic of Turkey was the Turkish
nation, which as a supra-national identity, covered all groups such
as Turks, Kurds, Bosnians, Laz, Sunnis and Alewis.

Elekdag said that a homogeneous nation was an exception, rather than
the rule. In a unitary state, citizens could not be granted special
rights just because they were different, said Elekdag, adding that
certain groups could not be given the right to utilize special
privileges or the right to establish political movements.

He said attempts to create new minorities in addition to those listed
in the Lausanne Treaty aimed to divide the country, noting that
the rights granted to Armenians, Greeks and Jews in the treaty were
collective ones. Elekdag said: “Turkey has no obligation, politically
or legally, to grant such rights to any group apart from non-Muslims.”

Turkey’s obligation to the EU was to make sure all its citizens equally
enjoyed the benefits of democracy and the rule of law, said Elekdag,
adding each individual should enshrine, protect and develop his or
her own cultural values. This was not a collective right, but was
the right of an individual as a citizen, said Elekdag.

EU’s minorities

CHP deputy Elekdag said that by mentioning Kurds and Alewis in Turkey
as minorities in its progress report, the European Commission was
recommending the broadening of the concept of minority, as defined in
the Lausanne Treaty. Elekdag said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had succeeded in removing the part
of the report that mentioned Kurds and Alewis as minorities, adding
that despite their efforts, the matter was far from resolved. He said
the other assessments in the report showed that the commission still
considered Kurds as a minority.

He said the Kurdish issue was included in the “Minority Rights,
Cultural Rights and the Protection of Minorities” section in the
report, and added that one passage said: “According to Turkey, the
minorities in Turkey are only the nun-Muslim communities listed in
the Lausanne treaty. The only communities defined as minorities are
Greeks, Armenians and Jews. In addition to these groups, there are
other communities in Turkey, including the Kurds. In this context,
the reservations put by Turkey on certain sections of the United
Nations Charters on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights is a source of concern. These reservations
may be used to prevent the future development of the protection of
minority rights.”

Elekdag also added that statements concerning the Alewis aimed to
create a new minority. He said the report noted the fact that no
change in the status of Muslim minorities had taken place, and that
Alewis were not recognized as a separate religious community.

In the last few European Commission progress reports, Kurds were
repeatedly seen as a minority and that Turkey was being forced to
accept this as a fact, he said, adding that now new attempts at
doing the same for Alewis was taking place. He said: “According
to international principles that guide the minority issue, being a
member of a minority is a personal choice. Even if individuals are
members of different ethnic groups or religions, they can’t be forced
to accept themselves as a minority. The guiding principle is for a
person to make his or her own choice. The European Commission to try
to question the identity of a few select groups and its attempts to
create new minorities in Turkey is both illegal and ugly.”

Government and the federative structure

Elekdag said that the minority report prepared by the Prime
Ministry Human Rights Advisory Board was significantly influenced
by the European Commission progress report. He said that the
report in question recommended the annulment of the concept of
the “indivisibility of the Turkish nation” from Article 3 of the
Constitution. He said the board’s reason for this recommendation was,
“the use of this term insinuates that the nation is a monolithic
structure, which means the disregarding of the sub-national identities
that form the nation and consequently is undemocratic.”

Elekdag said that the board also wanted to replace the system of
nation-state with its Turkish identity with a multicultural model with
a supra-national identity called “the citizen of Turkey. He said: “The
report, by suggesting the concept of “citizen of Turkey,” dismissing
the supra-national identity of Turkishness of the Turkish nation,
is trying to change the unitary state into a federal structure. This
recommendation boosts the efforts of domestic groups that call for
a bi-national state and their supporters overseas.”

The government needs to make its opinion on the report public, he
said, asking Prime Minister Erdogan to say if he is still behind his
suggestion to replace “Turkishness” with the concept of the “citizen
of Turkey.”

“The government’s statement on this issue is especially important in
terms of membership negotiations with the EU. If not, the EU will try
to force Turkey to accept a federative structure. The recommendations
made in the report, if implemented, would result in the collapse
of the nation-state system in Turkey and would begin the process of
transformation from a unitary state to a federative one.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress