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CHARTER PANEL TO INVITE MINORITY SPIRITUAL LEADERS
by Göksel Bozkurt
Hurriyet Daily News
Dec 7 2011
Turkey
A parliamentary commission tasked with preparing a draft constitution
wishes to listen to the spiritual leaders of the minority communities
in Turkey instead of the represantatives of minority foundations
Parliament's Constitution Conciliation Commission has decided to
invite spiritual leaders of the Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Jewish and
Syriac communities to hear their input for Turkey's new constitution.
If the three patriarchs and chief rabbi do not wish to appear at the
panel, they will be asked to recommend appropriate non-Muslim minority
foundations whose representatives the commission should listen to.
"There are too many minority foundations, but we have little knowledge
about them. That is why we decided to invite their highest-level
representatives or to listen to those whom they would recommend,"
Altan Tan, member of the commission's related sub-panel, told the
Hurriyet Daily News.
Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, acting Armenian Patriarch Episkopos
Aram AteÅ~_yan, Chief Rabbi Ä°sak Haleva and the spiritual head of
the Syriac Orthodox community Yusuf Cetin will be invited to avoid
any controversy over whom the commission should select on behalf of
the non-Muslim minorities. Over 200 minority foundations have been
listed by the commission, including 162 established according to the
1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
At a meeting of the commission held Dec. 6 under Parliament Speaker
Cemil Cicek's chairmanship, experts assisting the lawmakers said they
had created a Twitter account to collect opinions from citizens and
give deputies a chance to respond. The commission, however, rejected
the idea on grounds that Parliament had already created a website for
the same purpose and a Twitter account might water down the process.
Commission members also raised objections to the method the experts
suggested to classify the input of proposals and demands that
citizens, civic groups and public institutions would make. They
decided the classification would be based on the sections of the
current constitution.
by Göksel Bozkurt
Hurriyet Daily News
Dec 7 2011
Turkey
A parliamentary commission tasked with preparing a draft constitution
wishes to listen to the spiritual leaders of the minority communities
in Turkey instead of the represantatives of minority foundations
Parliament's Constitution Conciliation Commission has decided to
invite spiritual leaders of the Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Jewish and
Syriac communities to hear their input for Turkey's new constitution.
If the three patriarchs and chief rabbi do not wish to appear at the
panel, they will be asked to recommend appropriate non-Muslim minority
foundations whose representatives the commission should listen to.
"There are too many minority foundations, but we have little knowledge
about them. That is why we decided to invite their highest-level
representatives or to listen to those whom they would recommend,"
Altan Tan, member of the commission's related sub-panel, told the
Hurriyet Daily News.
Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, acting Armenian Patriarch Episkopos
Aram AteÅ~_yan, Chief Rabbi Ä°sak Haleva and the spiritual head of
the Syriac Orthodox community Yusuf Cetin will be invited to avoid
any controversy over whom the commission should select on behalf of
the non-Muslim minorities. Over 200 minority foundations have been
listed by the commission, including 162 established according to the
1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
At a meeting of the commission held Dec. 6 under Parliament Speaker
Cemil Cicek's chairmanship, experts assisting the lawmakers said they
had created a Twitter account to collect opinions from citizens and
give deputies a chance to respond. The commission, however, rejected
the idea on grounds that Parliament had already created a website for
the same purpose and a Twitter account might water down the process.
Commission members also raised objections to the method the experts
suggested to classify the input of proposals and demands that
citizens, civic groups and public institutions would make. They
decided the classification would be based on the sections of the
current constitution.