NAME CHANGE REFERENDA TO BE HELD IN 2010 AS PART OF INITIATIVE

Today’s Zaman
Nov 18 2009
Turkey

Civil society organizations demanded that the name of Tunceli be
reverted back to Dersim. The city’s name was changed in 1937 in a
bid to remove all traces of the Dersim Rebellion. However, many civil
society organizations and city residents continued to call the city
Dersim despite the official change.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, which began
a parliamentary discussion on the country’s democratization package
despite staunch opposition from the Republican People’s Party (CHP)
and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has decided to pursue the
initiative unilaterally.

The government finds support from the Democratic Society Party’s (DTP)
unreliable. Unable to take bold steps to determine the content of the
package due to resistance from the opposition parties, the government
will disclose the main features of the first stage of the package,
which will go into effect in 2010, in Parliament. One of the plans
in the first stage is to hold referenda on restoring the original
names of settlements whose names were changed during the single-party
period. There are currently 28 applications at the Interior Ministry
requesting referenda to change the names of settlements.

The ministry will evaluate each request and will demand a study into
whether the request reflects the will of the region. For example, a
request to restore an Armenian name to a settlement where there are
no Armenians will not be considered. If the request is compatible
with the demographics of the area, the Interior Ministry will hold
a referendum in that area and the name of the settlement will be
determined according to the results of the referendum.

The Interior Ministry, which circumscribed the scope of the initiative
due to opposition from the CHP and the MHP, has excluded items that
require constitutional amendments. The AK Party remains adamant about
pursuing the initiative despite tension in Parliament on Tuesday when
deputies convened to discuss the initiative.

According to the Interior Ministry’s plan, steps that can be taken
through administrative decisions will be implemented first. Issues
that require changes to bylaws and statutes will be put into effect
toward mid-2010 and items that require constitutional amendments will
be addressed last.

According to a study ordered by the ministry, close to 15,000
settlement names have been changed since the early years of the
republic. The ministry, which will compare studies conducted by
various universities on this topic with the data in state archives,
estimates that close to 100 settlement names could be changed in 2010.

With the government planning to focus on referenda to change
settlement names next year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
state ministers will try to explain the democratic initiative package
to the public in 2010.

What does the package include?

The first stage of the democratic initiative package was also put
together by the Interior Ministry. According to information AK Party
executives gave Today’s Zaman, the government will be particularly
cautious about keeping all steps related to the initiative within
the framework of the first three articles of the Turkish Constitution.

Turkish will continue to be the official language of Turkey, however,
obstacles related to the use of other languages and dialects will be
removed. An amendment will be made to the Radio and Television Supreme
Council (RTUK) Law to remove the time restrictions on broadcasting
in Kurdish and private television and radio stations will be allowed
to broadcast in Kurdish. While public education in other languages
will not be allowed, obstacles to learning native languages will be
removed. Political parties will be allowed to campaign in different
languages and the Religious Affairs Directorate will release a
Kurdish translation of the Holy Quran soon. Steps will be taken
to ensure that people who fled Turkey after the Sept. 12, 1980,
military coup and were stripped of their Turkish citizenship will
have their citizenship restored. People with Kurdish roots who lost
their citizenship rights will be given the right to become Turkish
citizens upon the Interior Ministry’s offer, provided that they were
never involved in terrorism or armed demonstration.

There will not be a general amnesty for members of terrorist
organizations, but there will be abatements for prisoners as well
as those who are still in the mountains. The first goal is to disarm
those in the mountains. Amendments will be made to Article 216 of the
Turkish Penal Code (TCK) to expand the scope of freedom of expression,
and precautionary measures will be taken to prevent gaps that could
lead to hate crimes.

The Makhmur refugee camp in northern Iraq will be vacated with the
cooperation of the United Nations and the Iraqi government, and some
6,000 refugees will be returned to Turkey. Steps will be taken to
ensure that the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) does not
use the camp.