HEAD OF ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PACE ADDRESSES LETTER TO COE LEADERSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 16, 2010 – 18:01 AMT 13:01 GMT

Head of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe, Mr. Davit Harutyunyan addressed a letter to MR.

Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Mr.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe.

The letter says:

"Dear colleagues,

Over the past two weeks the Prime Minister of Turkey has twice
explicitly stated his intention to deport Armenians who allegedly
reside in Turkey illegally. Immediately after the US Congress Foreign
Affairs Committee passed a resolution specifying "the systematic and
deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians [in Ottoman Empire] as
genocide" Recep Tayyip Erdogan told to BBC "We are turning a blind eye
to the remaining 100,000 [Armenians, who are not citizens of Turkey].

Tomorrow, I may tell these 100,000 to go back to their country, if it
becomes necessary". After the Swedish Parliament passed a decision
recognizing the Genocide of Armenians in 1915, the Prime Minister
of Turkey in his interview to "Spiegel" told: "We turn to Armenian
Diaspora and those countries that support the diaspora: there are
Armenians in Turkey who are Turkish citizens, and there are those
who live in our country illegally. So far we have not considered
the question of deportation, but if the diaspora continues to exert
pressure [to recognize the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire],
we could imagine ourselves capable of doing that".

These statements raised a wave of criticism even in Turkey.

Nevertheless the Prime Minister of Turkey refused to apologise and
to correct his mistake claiming only that he was misinterpreted and
misunderstood. But later events clearly showed that the Prime Minister
continues the same discriminatory approach. These statements raise
serious concerns in that a person who bears the responsibility for
the policy of the Republic of Turkey singles out a particular group
of national origin in a context totally unrelated to any objective of
addressing the issue of illegal migration. They imply application of
Turkey’s immigration laws and policies selectively and inconsistently,
targeting a specific national group. Such irresponsible statements
flagrantly violate every international treaty and convention in
the field of racism and discrimination and require urgent attention
and prompt reaction by the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary
Assembly in particular. It is regrettable that up to now neither
the Secretary General of the Council of Europe nor the President of
the PACE reacted to such irresponsible statements, which violate the
principles and values of the Organization.

Particularly, the Prime Minister of Turkey must be reminded without
ambiguity that persecution against any identifiable group on racial,
national, ethnic or other grounds that are universally recognized as
impermissible under international law constitutes serious violations
of human rights and, in some cases, qualifies as crimes against
humanity. It is particularly striking that such statements have been
made by a high official representing a country of origin for millions
of migrants, including illegal migrants in most parts of Europe.

Furthermore, the words uttered by the Prime Minister in his statements
manifest negative stereotyping of a particular group, namely migrants
of Armenian origin, and abuse a situation of vulnerability in which
these migrants find themselves.

The Council of Europe should, therefore issue a clear and unambiguous
warning to the Government of Turkey about the nature and content of
statements made by its Prime Minister and impermissibility of using
this issue for making pressure on foreign countries by discriminatory
application of migration policies towards a particular national group.

The Council should also remind strongly the Government of Turkey of
its obligations and responsibilities under international human rights
law to safeguard and protect migrants against illegal or violent acts.

It is noticeable that recognition and condemnation of the genocide
by the international community is not only a tribute to the victims
of the genocides, but also an important step towards prevention of
the crime of genocide in the future. Yet, the statement of the Prime
Minister of Turkey amounts to clear manifestation of hate speech and
humiliation of a particular minority group, which may give rise to
genocidal tendencies in Turkey. In this connection, it is important
to consider what steps need to be taken to prevent development of
such tendencies in Turkey as well as any manifestations of racism
and discrimination in respect of any national or ethnic group.

It’s worth drawing attention to the fact that to date Turkey has
not ratified Protocol N12 to the ECHR, which provides for a general
prohibition of discrimination and has not signed and ratified the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National

Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Based on his visit to Turkey in 2009, the Commissioner for Human
Rights of the Council of Europe initiated a dialogue on the human
rights of minorities and subsequently published his report on this
issue. The Commissioner focused on and provided recommendations on
a number of major issues, namely, he recommended the creation and
implementation of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation,
the ratification of Protocol N12 to ECHR and Turkey’s accession to
the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

In its third Report on Turkey (adopted on 25 June 2004) the European
Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) emphasized the need
to reinforce respect for the rights of immigrants, irrespective of
their legal status, asylum seekers and refugees.

ECRI also recommends that the Turkish authorities ratify Protocol
N12 to the ECHR as soon as possible. It recommended to the Turkish
authorities to: 1. make the declaration under Article 14 of the
International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination, empowering the Committee for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination to receive individual communications;

2. consider withdrawing their reservations in respect of Article 27 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 13
of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

3. sign and ratify UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in
Education, Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,
the Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at
Local Level and the European Convention on Nationality,

4. sign and ratify Convention on Cybercrime and its Additional
Protocol on the criminalization of acts of a racist or xenophobic
nature committed through computer networks.

I believe that the Council of Europe should immediately take adequate
steps to influence the Government of Turkey to abstain from public
threats or actions of racist or discriminatory nature."

The letter also contains appendix, which features the declarations and
reservations of the Republic of Turkey to some of the most important
international treaties dealing with the elimination of all forms of
racial discrimination and rights of migrants.