PARLIAMENT URGES PACE TO WARN TURKEY ON ERDOGAN DEPORTATION COMMENTS
Asbarez
Apr 15th, 2010
YEREVAN–The Chairman of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe Thursday sent a letter to the
chairman of the Council of Europe and the president of PACE regarding
recent threats by the Turkish prime minister on deportation of
Armenians.
The letter, signed by chairman Davit Harutunyan, urges the Council
of Europe and PACE to, among other actions, warn Turkey about Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s threats to deport Armenians if a
Congressional resolution recognizing the Genocide is passed.
"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,"
said the letter.
Harutunyan also addressed a written question to PACE chairman Mevlut
Cavusoglu on a double standard by the Assembly regarding recognition
of the Genocide.
"Recently you have referred to the commemoration of the Katyn massacre
as an event "about seeking historical justice and bringing about
reconciliation". This is most commendable indeed, especially hearing
it from the President of PACE, but above all from a Founding Member
and elected representative of Turkey’s ruling AK party. Incidentally
on this occasion you do not insist that history should be left
to historians. I hope you could live up to your views and join the
Armenian people in commemorating the historical injustice perpetrated
against them by the Ottoman rulers 95 years ago and defy the denialists
of the Armenian genocide in Turkey," said Harutunyan in his letter.
Below is the complete text of Harutunyan’s letter to the Council of
Europe and PACE leadership regarding Erdogan’s comments.
MR. THORBJÃ~XRN JAGLAND SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
MR. MEVLUT CAVUÅ~^OÄ~^LU PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF
THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
CC: Members of PACE National delegations
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 recognising 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 recognise 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) emphasised 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
criminalisation 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. For your
information I’ve attached to this letter appendix, which contains 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.