TURKISH PM ERDOGAN ISSUES DECREE ON MINORITIES’ PROTECTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 13, 2010 – 16:57 AMT 11:57 GMT

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has instructed officials
and civil servants to avoid emergence of any difficulties in their
formal dealings with national minority representatives in Turkey.

The decree reads that minorities’ problems have not been solved
entirely, despite efforts exerted for democratization and improvement
in issues concerning minorities in Turkey over the past years.

Erdogan has ordered to take prompt actions for protection and
maintenance of minorities’ cemeteries, inclusion of court decrees in
favor of minority foundations in land registry offices and swift legal
action on publications inciting hatred for non-Muslim communities.

The premier’s decree was published in Official Gazette on May 13,
the Anatolian Agency reported.

According to Turkey’s Constitution, Armenians, Greeks and Jews are
national minorities of the country.