EDITORIAL
It’s time for Europe to judge Turkey
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ADL
9/6/05
The term “ethnic cleansing” may be a recent expression, but the
practice is an old one, and the Turks have proven to be masters of
that practice, during the Ottoman period, as well as during the rules
of Young Turks and Kemalists.
Whatever the Ottoman Sultans had begun – especially Sultan Abdul
Hamid, who perpetrated the massacres of 1895/96 – the Young Turks
continued by exterminating another 1.5 million Armenians, and Kemal
Ataturk completed the task by expelling the remnants of Armenians from
Cilicia and burning the city of Smyrna (1922), to drive the Greek
community out to the sea.
Ever since, Turkey has been enjoying ethnic homogeneity, if we don’t
factor in sporadic Kurdish uprisings, despite their common Moslem
faith.
However, the successive Turkish governments have never ceased to
harass, intimidate and dispossess decimated ethnic minorities, namely,
Armenians, Greeks and Jews.
In violation of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, whereby the Turkish
government committed itself to respect minority rights, the ethnic
groups have been continually oppressed through the Wealth Tax of the
1940s, through the organized riots of September 6 (1955), and through
the confiscation of schools, churches, and income properties of the
ethnic minorities, which were supposedly protected by the Treaty of
Lausanne.
Except for being intimidated and ridiculed at the Turkish courts, the
emasculated minorities never dared to appeal to the international
community for help. On the contrary, they were coerced “to confess”
that they enjoyed equal rights under the law, like other citizens,
when questioned by the international human rights groups.
However, the landscape changed dramatically in recent years, when
Greek Cypriots successfully sued the Turkish government in the
European courts for loss of property as a consequence of Turkish army
aggression against the island in 1974 and as a consequence of Turkey’s
application to the European Union, to become a full member. The latter
case stipulated that Turkey had to adopt European standards of law and
abandon its medieval practices.
In recent years Turkey was forced to abolish the death penalty and
introduce a series of reforms in its constitution, guaranteeing human
rights, respect for minority cultures and eliminating torture in its
penal system.
However, those changes have proven that there is still a gaping
distance between the laws on paper and actual practice; indeed,
contrary to UN resolutions and worldwide condemnations, Turkey
continues to occupy 38% of Cypriot territory, it continues to blockade
Armenia and bullies Kurds in Iraq.
Internally the confiscation of minority properties continues with an
inexorable gusto.
In response to continued oppression of minorities the Greek Patriarch
has finally ventured to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Armenian Patriarch in Istamboul – who thus far has been fond of
practicing ostrich policy – has finally decided to follow suit and
take the community’s case to the same court.
The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the
Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged
violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.
On September 20, 2005 the seven-judge court will hear the cases of
Greek and Armenian communities, whose properties have been confiscated
by the Turkish government. Both applicants are foundations (wakif)
under Turkish law that was established during the Ottoman period. The
Wakif of the Greek Boys’ Lyceum in Fener was established to provide
secondary education to Greek students.
The Sourp Pirgic (Holy Savior) Armenian Hospital Foundation of
Yedikule was established to provide health care to the Armenian
community. In recent years the majority of patients receiving quality
care at the facility are ethnic Turks.
In 1952 the Greek Foundation of Fener was the beneficiary of a
property gift; it received one section of a building in Istamboul. The
Foundation purchased the remaining part of the said building in
1958. The Yedikule Sourp Pirgic Foundation had received as gifts two
pieces of real estate in 1943 and 1967, respectively, in Beyoglu and
Kadikoy.
In 1992 the Treasury Department applied to the Turkish courts to
delete the names of corresponding communities from the property deeds
and turn over the properties to its custody. In three separate
verdicts the Istamboul High Court satisfied the Treasury’s request and
expropriated the Greek and Armenian communities.
The irony in these confiscatory verdicts is in the fact that the
minorities believe their rights are enshrined in the Lausanne Treaty,
while the Turkish courts have just the opposite
interpretation. Indeed, the Higher Court in Istamboul based its case
on the May 8, 1974 decision of the Appellate Court, which held that
the foundations, whose membership was made of the religious
minorities, as defined by Lausanne Treaty, and whose constitutive
documentsdid not contain statutes that they are entitled to acquire
real estate; therefore, they were precluded from purchasing or
accepting as gift such property.
When the Turkish Constitution was amended to respect minority rights
=80` among other democratic measures – the ethnic minorities were
elated and they experienced a moment of euphoria. They were led to
believe that the new laws would put an end to arbitrary confiscation;
moreover, the government would compensate the respective communities
for the past expropriations or returnthe properties to the
communities.
The euphoria did not last very long and disappointment ensued, because
all the hopes were dashed and the government provided its own
interpretation of those laws. The upshot was that the government would
continue expropriating the minorities, this time only using more
sophisticated deceptive tactics.
It is most ironic that while the Greek Patriarch Bartolomew goes to
court to claim properties confiscated in the past, at the same period
the Turkish government confiscates a new piece of real estate; indeed,
like the Armenian community, the Greek Patriarchate owns a summer camp
on the island of Kenali: since no Greek children were sent this summer
to the camp, the Administration of Charity Foundations (Wakif) has
requested the Patriarchate to turn overthe camp to its ownership as
“abandoned property”. The Greek Patriarch is irate.
He has appealed to the government to reverse its unfair decision. He
has sent thirty letters to Ankara and none of them has been
answered. Says the Patriarch, “Our Seminary in Heybeli was shut down,
our properties were confiscated and our appeals have been
ignored. Lately I had a chance to meet Turkey’s Ambassador, Mr. Umid
Pamir, in Brussels and I asked him whether the government would
initiate a dialog with us. The camp property belongs to us, and we
will never sign a document to cede the building to the government. And
since it is impossible for us to defend our properties in this
country, we have no alternative but to resort to the European Court
for Human Rights. There is certainly bad faith here. The Greek
community was 120,000 strong, we have trickled down to 2,000. Do the
people abandon their homes and businesses and quit the country for no
good reason?”
Indeed, over the last eight decades government persecution,
expropriation of churches, cemeteries, schools and income properties
have decimated the ethnic minorities. Methods change, laws are passed,
but the goal remains the same: to drive out or to assimilate the
minorities. Europe has to judge for itself if it needs a racist state
as a member. It is not a matter of religion, nor is it Turkey’s
abominable past, but its future, its medieval mentality and the burden
of dismal cultural values.
The Greek Patriarch has further stated that “If Turkey wishes to
become an equal member of the European Union, it has to demonstrate
some respect towards European values”.
One would wish that the Armenian Patriarch had the same guts to stand
up to the Turks and defend community rights. Instead he was dispatched
by the Turkish government on a political mission to the European
capitals to lobby for Turkish admission in the EU, vouching that
finally Turkey had become a civilized nation. Upon his return he was
hoping that Ankara would reward his efforts by solving outstanding
community issues. After giving him the runaround from one office to
the other, no community problem was solved; on the contrary, new
problems were added deliberately.
No matter what would be the decision of the Strasbourg Court, it is
worth it for Europeans to have a closer look into Turkey’s domestic
policies and decide if they think it is desirable to add a bully to
the family of civilized nations.
Historically, Armenians are painfully aware of Turkish conduct,
discriminatory policies and values.
It is a shame that President Bush had to reward Turkey for having
practiced 150 years of democracy towards its minorities. It looks like
people have different interpretations of the concept of
“democracy”. If the Turks have practiced democracy for that long, then
we need to find another term to define mass murderers.
Now it is time for Europe to have an intimate knowledge of those
values and judge Turkey.