Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 8 2010
It’s time for us to meet hate crimes
Friday, January 8, 2010
SEDAT ERGÄ°N
Attacks against Romas in the town of Selendi in Manisa set a striking
example of how citizens in Turkey can be victims of dangerous
aggression just because of their identity in the year of 2010.
The Manisa Governor’s Office found a solution by sending Romas away to
the town of Gördes. This is an incident of `modern deportation.’
International literature develops quickly
* Likewise, we have see attacks against Kurds in western provinces and
towns in recent years. And in all these attacks, prejudice against
different ethnic identities plays a certain role. In fact, certain
identities are being attacked.
* Crimes committed through similar motives are termed as `hate crimes’
in Western democracies. For social peace, this is a quite dangerous
category of crimes because in the end people coming from different
backgrounds feel aggrieved.
International literature of hate crimes is developing quickly.
Fighting such crimes becomes international as increasing numbers of
countries pass special laws to punish hate crimes.
Radical change in social culture a must
* Hate crimes are seen in such vast areas. As the feeling of
belongingness is of importance, attacks against religious, ethnic,
sexual or any identities form hate crimes. Harassment or murder of a
transvestite because of his sexual preference as well as insulting a
member of minority groups just for his/her belongingness are also
examples of hate crimes. In this perspective, following Jews, Muslims
have become victims of hate crimes in Europe more and more every day.
* It is needless to say that Turkey does not have a good record in the
area. We are living in a country where the murders of Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink and of Italian priest Andreas Santoro took
place.
Turkey should also take solid steps to correct its records on hate
crimes as it strives for democracy. For that, the concept of hate
crime and social awareness against it need to settle in first, as we
radically change our social culture and reflexes in that direction.
* Hate crimes now happen to be the case in Turkey. For instance, the
latest progress report released by the European Union criticizes the
`expression of hatred’ against the Jewish community in Turkey
following Israel’s Gaza offensive last year.
The government’s duty
* The Organization of Security and Cooperation for Europe, or OSCE, is
the international community address for fight with hate crimes. In the
frame of OSCE, Turkey has so many obligations to fulfill in the
subject, among which is training of police forces and other civil
servants against the crime. Review of legislations, encouraging civil
society to monitor hate crimes, assistance to the victims and keeping
track records of hate crimes are among others. The Justice Ministry
regularly reports to the OSCE.
* In fact, articles in the Constitution and in many laws, such as
Articles 122 and 216 in the Turkish Penal Code, introduce penalty for
instigating a grudge and hatred among people. But procedures in force
seem not dissuasive enough.
The only positive development recently is efforts to set up
nongovernmental platforms against hate crimes ().
* To protect social peace and to alleviate democratic standards Turkey
should place hate crimes on the agenda. Steps in this direction are
critical to show how democratic the government can be. For instance, a
first step could be formation of a parliamentary commission on
fighting against hate crimes.
* Mr. Sedat Ergin is columnist for the daily Hürriyet in which this
piece appeared Friday. It was translated into English by the Daily
News staff.