Zaman, Turkey
Nov 11 2006

EU Council Replies to Brussels on Turkey Progress Report
By Emre Demir
Saturday, November 11, 2006
zaman.com

The Council of Europe replied to the EU Turkey progress report’s
recommendation that Turkey should expand the definition of a minority
in line with international and European standards.

Speaking to Zaman, sources from the Council of Europe noted that
Europe has no universal standard on the definition of minority,
contrary to what the report said.

`According to the Turkish authorities, under the Treaty of Lausanne,
minorities in Turkey consist exclusively of non-Muslim religious
communities. The minorities associated in practice by the authorities
with the Treaty of Lausanne are Jews, Armenians and Greeks. However,
there are other communities in Turkey which, in the light of the
relevant international and European standards, could qualify as
minorities,’ according to the progress report released by the
European Commission on Nov. 8.

The report also criticizes Turkey for not having signed the Council
of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities, Europe’s only official agreement on national minorities.
However, authorities from the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe
state there is no minority definition agreed on in the convention.

Sources from the Council of Europe told Zaman that Europe has no
common standards on what communities can be defined as minorities.

`Europe has no general definition of minority and no common standards
to determine which communities can be defined as minorities. As a
result, the Council of Europe won’t pressure any state to recognize
new minority groups,’ sources said.

The 45-member Council of Europe, including Turkey, promotes and
protects human rights, minority rights and democracy.

Furthermore, the progress report, in the section dealing with
minority reports, said although Turkish Public Television (TRT) has
continued broadcasting in five languages, including

Kurdish, the duration and scope of these broadcasts is very limited.

Greece, an EU member state, refuses to broadcast in minority
languages and founding members such as Germany and France are
criticized for insufficient broadcasting periods as well.

Germany faced criticism over insufficient programming in minority
languages in a Council of Europe Ministers Committee report in March.

Germany has one hour per week radio broadcast in Frisian and
10-minute TV broadcast in Sorbian.

Several minority groups in France also find the TV broadcasting in
their languages insufficient.

France broadcasts 45-minutes a week in Occitan and just five minutes
a week in the Catalan language.

Weekly broadcasts in Breton, widely spoken in northern France, were
ended in early 2006 for `lack of interest.’

One of the countries that did not sign the convention is Greece.
Though an EU member state, Athens allows no radio or TV broadcasts in
any minority language. Several languages, including Turkish,
Macedonian and Albanian are spoken in the country.

Turkey did not sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages protecting educational and broadcasting rights in minority
languages.

In addition to Turkey, France, Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg also
refused to sign the convention.