International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
Turkey: A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation
Vienna, 10 October 2006– The International Helsinki Federation for Human
Rights (IHF) today published a 26-page briefing paper entitled Turkey: A
Minority Policy of Systematic Negation. The briefing paper discusses the
legal basis for Turkey’s restrictive minority polices, its interpretation by
authorities, and an abundant misuse of laws against minority members and
individuals who seek to promote minority rights and protection. It also
takes up case examples of how the rights of various ethnic, religious and
linguistic minority groups including the Kurds, the Armenians, the Greek,
the Alevis, the Laz, the Circassians, and the Roma are violated. In
addition, the paper addresses the situation of sexual minorities in Turkey.
`When discussing Turkey’s possible membership in the European Union, the
manner in which Turkey treats its minorities should constitute a central
criterion in judging the country’s observance of human rights. Today,
Turkey’s minority protection still falls seriously short of European
standards. A policy that is characterized by the failure to recognize the
mere existence of most minorities, continued legal prosecution of people who
speak about minorities or historical facts about them, and the reluctance to
solve basic problems faced by minorities, is unacceptable from a human
rights point of view,’ said Ulrich Fischer, president of the IHF.
Turkey continues to practice a policy of `Turkification,’ which it adopted
in the early 20th century. This policy amounts to a form of cultural
assimilation that fails to recognize individuals’ rights to ethnic,
national, and religious self-identification, and aims at forced assimilation
with a Turkish identity. It encompasses several strategies whose rationale
violates, in one way or another, internationally guaranteed standards for
minority rights. These strategies still include: denying formal recognition
of minority groups; hindering their access to the media; limiting their
political participation; violating their freedom of expression (especially
in their own language); impeding their freedom of religion; refraining from
facilitating their freedom of movement and to choose their place of
residence; and practicing or tolerating various other forms of direct and
indirect discrimination.
Turkey bases its minority policies on the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 and
claims to be bound only by this treaty c which itself is entirely obsolete
in light of current international standards for minority rights and
protection. Moreover, while the treaty provides for protection for all
non-Muslim minorities, all Turkish governments in the past more than 80
years have interpreted the treaty to guarantee protection only to three
minority groups: the Armenian Orthodox Christians, the Greek Orthodox
Christians, and the Jews. What is more, these groups are recognized only as
religious minorities r not as ethnic.
While Turkey has no laws in place specifically addressing minority issues,
an abundance of laws are misused against individuals who have sought to
promote minority rights, or even to address the existence of minorities.
These include inter alia the penal code, anti-terrorism legislation and laws
regulating the operation political parties and other associations.
For example, addressing the issue of discrimination against minorities, or
considering that Armenians in Turkey were victims of genocide, has been
prosecuted under the penal code for `inciting enmity or hatred among the
population’ or `denigration of Turkishness.’ Further, in 2005, Turkey’s
largest teachers’ union, Egitim Sen, was closed down for defending the right
to education in children’s mother tongues. In addition, the formal closure
of the pro-Kurdish DEHAP and HAK-PAR parties are pending with the
Constitutional Court for `creating minorities’ and using prohibited
languages in election activities.
Police continue to interfere in demonstrations and open-air meetings
organized by Kurdish activists many of whom have stood trial for
participating in them. Recent reforms that have lifted some language
restrictions in broadcasting and education of minority languages have been
clearly insufficient. By law, it is prohibited to use any other language but
Turkish in political activities.
Legislation regulating the operation of religious minorities treats Muslim
and non-Muslim religious communities in different ways and therefore amounts
to a serious challenge to freedom of religion and religious tolerance. In
practice, non-Muslim minorities enjoy restricted property rights, face
interference in the management of their `foundations, ‘ and a ban on
training their own clergy. But also Muslim minorities, such as the Alevis,
for example, experience difficulties in having their places of worship
recognized because authorities regard them as a cultural group, not
religious. In addition, reports persist that all religious minority leaders
remain under government surveillance.
While, under the Lausanne Treaty, non-Muslim religious minorities have the
right to give language education in their own language, in practice the
proper functioning of minority schools is hindered in several ways.
An old settlement act from 1934 explicitly discriminates against Roma
(`itinerant gypsies’) by forbidding their settlement in Turkey. In addition,
Roma are frequently treated as second-class citizens and therefore
discriminated against in employment, housing, and in access to medical care.
In the 1980s and 1990s, more than 378,000 Kurds were displaced and more than
3,000 villages completely destroyed under the pretext of combating the PKK
insurgency. Despite some legal steps and projects to ensure the return of
IDPs, the measures taken so far are clearly insufficient and partially
discriminatory.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey but sexual minorities are exposed to
various forms of discrimination and harassment. For example, groups
promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights have faced
difficulties in trying to register officially; they have been under the
threat of closure; gay marches have been banned and police have failed to
protect their participants against angry mobs; and a whole print run of a
gay magazine was recently confiscated.
The IHF briefing paper Turkey: A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation is
posted at
?sec_id=3&d_id=4318 (under
Recent Reports)
For more information:
Ulrich Fischer, IHF president, tel. +49-170-807 24 13
Henriette Schroeder, press officer, +43-1-408 88 22 or mobile +43-676-725 48
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