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Turkey Doesn't Meet European Standards

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  • Turkey Doesn't Meet European Standards

    TURKEY DOESN¡¦T MEET EUROPEAN STANDARDS

    A1+
    [08:03 pm] 10 October, 2006

    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 ~C{ including the Kurds, the Armenians, the Greek, the Alevis,
    the Laz, the Circassians, and the Roma ~C{ 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 ~C{
    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.¡¨

    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.

    --Boundary_(ID_WTDF5jj9VVdYJs/7VV7YSg)--

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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