ADMINISTRATIVE COURT DOES NOT TRY MULTILINGUALISM
BIA
Dec 3 2007
Turkey
The case against the multilingual Sur municipality in Diyarbakir was
dropped by an administrative court.
The 2nd Administrative Court in Diyarbakir has refused to follow the
demand of the Governor’s Office to stop the "multilingual services"
of the Sur municipality in Diyarbakir.
Demirbas: My removal not lawful
Abdulla Demirbas, the former mayor of the Sur municipality, was
dismissed from his office by the State Council, following the appeal
by the Ministry of the Interior, which had claimed that "multilingual
services violate the constitution".
Demirbas has interpreted the refusal of the administrative court as
a vindication of his cause, saying, "This decision is proof that the
case which ended in my removal from office was not based on the law."
He added, "This is a scandal of procedure, and a sign that the
government and the judiciary act arbitrarily. If the case had gone
to another court before the State Council, it would have emerged that
there was no legal basis to remove me from office."
Government biased towards DTP municipalities
Demirbas told bianet that he did not believe he would be allowed to
return to office: "The case will probably go to the European Court
of Human Rights and it will become clear there that a legal mistake
was made."
The Diyarbakir 2nd Adminstrative Court acknowledged that the Sur
municipal council had not presented its concept of multilingual
municipal services to the governor for approval, but only to the
Greater Diyarbakir Municipal Mayor’s Office. The court argued, however,
that there was no clear and obligatory administrative process that
was supposed to be followed, and thus dismissed the case.
Demirbas emphasised that the court decision was not definitive, saying,
"This decision shows the partisan approach which the government has
towards local authorities ruled by the Democratic Society Party (DTP)
and is a proof of the intolerant attitude towards Kurdish."
Tried but acquitted for an article
Demirbas had presented an article entitled "Local Authorities in
the Light of Multilingual Municipal Services" at the European Social
Forum. Based on this article, the municipality had started multilingual
services at the beginning of this year.
The 8th Chamber of the State Council decreed on 15 June that Demirbas
should be dismissed from office and the municipal council be dissolved
for offering services in languages other than Turkish, such as Kurdish
and Arabic.
In a survey of the municipal area, it had been ascertained that
24 percent of the population spoke Turkish, 72 percent Kurdish,
4 percent Arabic and 3 percent Syriac and Armenian. As a result,
the municipality decided to offer services in different languages.
Demirbas’s article had landed him in the 4th Heavy Penal Court in
Diyarbakir for "spreading propaganda of a terrorist organisation or
its aims", but he was acquitted on 19 September 2006.
The European Council recently demanded that municipal services in
languages other than Turkish be allowed and that local authorities
be protected from political and judiciary pressures.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
