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TURKEY: MAKING ROOM FOR RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
by Dorian Jones
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 3 2011
NY
With the opening of Turkey's parliament on October 1 and the start of
work on replacing the country's constitution, members of the country's
religious minority groups are hoping that years of institutional and
legal discrimination will come to an end in the not-too-distant future.
"We are expecting to contribute . . . our ideas and our support to
this process," said Laki Vingas, a Greek-Turkish businessman and
the elected representative for 161 non-Muslim minority foundations
in their dealings with the Turkish state. "We have seen a big change
in the way the government is cooperating with us."
Over its nine-year tenure in power, the Islamic-rooted Justice
and Development Party (AKP) has tried to distinguish itself from
its predecessors by addressing some of the grievances of Turkey's
non-Muslim religious minorities. Reforms, many of which were demanded
by the European Union, have included the easing of controls on
non-Muslim foundations, the renovation of places of worship and the
ending of rhetoric that termed non-Muslims as "yabancı" or foreigners.
"The times when a citizen of ours would be oppressed due to his
religious, ethnic origin or a different way of life are over," Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared this September at a Ramadan
dinner attended by non-Muslim minority leaders. "This is not about
doing a favor; this is about rectifying an injustice."
The state's confiscation of property owned by non-Muslim religious
communities, a practice that dates back to 1936, is one of the most
contentious issues for Turkey's Christian and Jewish minorities. "It
was a way of stealing, of plundering the wealth of these minorities,"
charged Ishak Alaton, a leading industrialist and prominent figure
among Turkey's estimated 25,000-strong Jewish community.
For decades, foundations have been battling in the courts, seeking the
return of schools, cemeteries, churches and other properties. "This
land was taken from the Armenian Yedikule Surp Pirgic hospital in
1952 because of the old mentality," said Melkon Karakose, an Armenian
community activist, pointing to a sports field run by an Istanbul
district government. "Now we are fighting to get it back."
Karakose has been working on behalf of various foundations in the
courts for 25 years. He's more optimistic now than ever about the
chances for change. "Thanks to the new mindset, the government will
make sure we get back our lands," he said.
Justice is likely to come at a substantial cost to the government.
"We are talking about huge [real estate] values. Each case will be
an independent case that will be taken court," warned Alaton, the
Jewish community activist.
Vingas, who represents the non-Muslim foundations in their dealings
with the state, says there are around 150 properties and buildings
that have been identified as eligible for restitution. Many occupy
prime locations in Istanbul's red-hot property market.
Vingas added that Turkey's non-Muslim minorities would welcome any
windfall in valuable property holdings, but cautioned that the issue
went beyond money. "It is a right and it is a cultural heritage," he
underlined. "It's not a matter of how rich the minority foundations
will become. But it's a necessity to [bring] back what belong[s] to
your family. The minorities, for almost the [entire] 20th century,
have suffered."
Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at Istanbul's Bahcesehir
University, touted the significance of the government's rhetoric.
"This is a total reversal of this attitude whereby the non-Muslims
were considered, sometimes openly, as foreigners, "Aktar said.
The government's willingness to explore restitution does not yet cover
the hundreds, if not thousands, of property seizures from individuals,
or the takeovers that occurred before 1936. An even more contentious
point is confiscation that occurred prior to the formation of the
Republic of Turkey in 1923, especially during the World War I-era
massacre of ethnic Armenians.
The restitution of property would only be the start of a process
that ensures religious freedom for minorities. Both Armenian and
Greek churches, for example, have reopened. Yet, the leaders of the
Armenian Apostolic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul
still lack legal status in Turkey. The training of priests also is
shaping up as a contentious issue.
The Greek Orthodox Church is pressing for the reopening of the Halki
Seminary, which the government closed in 1974. International pressure,
including from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is growing
for the reopening. But the Turkish government so far steadfastly
refuses, arguing that Greece must make reciprocal concessions to its
Turkish minority.
On a day-to-day level, non-Muslim minorities complain that they face
discrimination in government employment, including de facto exclusion
from the judiciary system, police or military; non-Muslims generally
do not hold senior positions in such professions. "The problems would
finish when my son can be a ranking soldier, or my niece becomes a
police officer," said Karakose, the Armenian community activist.
"After all this happen[s], then the problems can be solved. And I
believe this will happen."
Editor's note: Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
by Dorian Jones
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 3 2011
NY
With the opening of Turkey's parliament on October 1 and the start of
work on replacing the country's constitution, members of the country's
religious minority groups are hoping that years of institutional and
legal discrimination will come to an end in the not-too-distant future.
"We are expecting to contribute . . . our ideas and our support to
this process," said Laki Vingas, a Greek-Turkish businessman and
the elected representative for 161 non-Muslim minority foundations
in their dealings with the Turkish state. "We have seen a big change
in the way the government is cooperating with us."
Over its nine-year tenure in power, the Islamic-rooted Justice
and Development Party (AKP) has tried to distinguish itself from
its predecessors by addressing some of the grievances of Turkey's
non-Muslim religious minorities. Reforms, many of which were demanded
by the European Union, have included the easing of controls on
non-Muslim foundations, the renovation of places of worship and the
ending of rhetoric that termed non-Muslims as "yabancı" or foreigners.
"The times when a citizen of ours would be oppressed due to his
religious, ethnic origin or a different way of life are over," Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared this September at a Ramadan
dinner attended by non-Muslim minority leaders. "This is not about
doing a favor; this is about rectifying an injustice."
The state's confiscation of property owned by non-Muslim religious
communities, a practice that dates back to 1936, is one of the most
contentious issues for Turkey's Christian and Jewish minorities. "It
was a way of stealing, of plundering the wealth of these minorities,"
charged Ishak Alaton, a leading industrialist and prominent figure
among Turkey's estimated 25,000-strong Jewish community.
For decades, foundations have been battling in the courts, seeking the
return of schools, cemeteries, churches and other properties. "This
land was taken from the Armenian Yedikule Surp Pirgic hospital in
1952 because of the old mentality," said Melkon Karakose, an Armenian
community activist, pointing to a sports field run by an Istanbul
district government. "Now we are fighting to get it back."
Karakose has been working on behalf of various foundations in the
courts for 25 years. He's more optimistic now than ever about the
chances for change. "Thanks to the new mindset, the government will
make sure we get back our lands," he said.
Justice is likely to come at a substantial cost to the government.
"We are talking about huge [real estate] values. Each case will be
an independent case that will be taken court," warned Alaton, the
Jewish community activist.
Vingas, who represents the non-Muslim foundations in their dealings
with the state, says there are around 150 properties and buildings
that have been identified as eligible for restitution. Many occupy
prime locations in Istanbul's red-hot property market.
Vingas added that Turkey's non-Muslim minorities would welcome any
windfall in valuable property holdings, but cautioned that the issue
went beyond money. "It is a right and it is a cultural heritage," he
underlined. "It's not a matter of how rich the minority foundations
will become. But it's a necessity to [bring] back what belong[s] to
your family. The minorities, for almost the [entire] 20th century,
have suffered."
Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at Istanbul's Bahcesehir
University, touted the significance of the government's rhetoric.
"This is a total reversal of this attitude whereby the non-Muslims
were considered, sometimes openly, as foreigners, "Aktar said.
The government's willingness to explore restitution does not yet cover
the hundreds, if not thousands, of property seizures from individuals,
or the takeovers that occurred before 1936. An even more contentious
point is confiscation that occurred prior to the formation of the
Republic of Turkey in 1923, especially during the World War I-era
massacre of ethnic Armenians.
The restitution of property would only be the start of a process
that ensures religious freedom for minorities. Both Armenian and
Greek churches, for example, have reopened. Yet, the leaders of the
Armenian Apostolic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul
still lack legal status in Turkey. The training of priests also is
shaping up as a contentious issue.
The Greek Orthodox Church is pressing for the reopening of the Halki
Seminary, which the government closed in 1974. International pressure,
including from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is growing
for the reopening. But the Turkish government so far steadfastly
refuses, arguing that Greece must make reciprocal concessions to its
Turkish minority.
On a day-to-day level, non-Muslim minorities complain that they face
discrimination in government employment, including de facto exclusion
from the judiciary system, police or military; non-Muslims generally
do not hold senior positions in such professions. "The problems would
finish when my son can be a ranking soldier, or my niece becomes a
police officer," said Karakose, the Armenian community activist.
"After all this happen[s], then the problems can be solved. And I
believe this will happen."
Editor's note: Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress