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Conference in Munich Highlighted Assyrian Human Rights Issues
Posted GMT 1-7-2012 23:0:4
Munich (AINA) -- On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of signing an
agreement between Germany and Turkey to recruit migrant workers from
Turkey (German: Anwerbeabkommen), official celebrations were held
across Germany. State representatives of Germany and Turkey met in
Berlin, while celebrations were held in various cities in late October
through November. However, most of those events did not properly
reflect the ethnical and religious mosaic of Turkey. Most politicians
and the mainstream media continue to talk about "Turkish workers" that
came to Germany as 'Gastarbeiter' (guest worker), ignoring the fact
that among the migrants also many Kurds, Assyrians (Turkish: Süryani),
Armenians and Alevis arrived in Germany to work and live with their
families.
During December 15-18, Kurdish Mesopotamia Association organized an
anniversary event on this same occasion with a rich program that
included three political panels, an exhibition and a musical event.
This was done in cooperation with the Social Democratic Party (SPD),
the Green Party in Munich along with the city's cultural board.
The political panels were held on Friday, December 16th in Munich's
old City Hall with more than 300 people attending, including Kurds,
Assyrians, Alevis and Germans.
The first panel focused solely on the situation of the Assyrians in
Turkey. Panel speakers were Erol Dora, the Assyrian member of Turkish
Parliament, attorney and member of the Peace & Democracy Party (BDP)
together with the former chairman of the Turkish Human Rights
Association (IHD) and lawyer Yusuf Alatas, while moderation was done
by Haydar Isik, a Kurdish writer.
The second panel discussed the situation of the Kurds in Munich while
the third panel focused on the political conditions of the Kurds in
Turkey; the latter highlighted BPD member Leyla Zana, also member of
Turkish Parliament, as well as attorney Yusuf Alatas.
The panels were opened by a short speech of Munich's mayor Hep
Monatzeder who said that based on the agreement signed between Turkey
and Germany "people from all ethnic groups came to Germany to work and
live here. Among the people who came to Germany were Assyrians and
Kurds that were in Turkey even not [officially] recognized to exist".
After an opening message by Haydar Isik, who moderated the first
panel, Erol Dora gave a short historical outline on the Assyrians in
Middle East as indigenous people, briefly touching their current
political and social situation in Iraq, Syria and Iran.
With respect to Turkey, Dora focused on the legal status of the
Assyrians in the Turkish Republic in the framework of the Treaty of
Lausanne (of 1923), underlining that Assyrians lacked recognition as a
'non-Muslim minority', whereas Greeks, Armenians, and Jews received
certain religious and cultural rights; still all of them have been
discriminated. Dora further touched on the background of the mass
migration of Assyrians from Turkey to Europe since the 1970s, hinting
that currently more than 80,000 of Assyrians from Turkey and other
Middle-East countries live in Germany.
Lawyer Yusuf Alatas characterized the situation of the Christians and
specifically that of the Assyrians as a "bleeding wound" and stressed
that they "are among the oppressed people in Turkey". But compared to
others, "they are oppressed religiously, too", he said. He stressed
that, "as long as the Kurdish question in Turkey is not solved",
issues related to democratization will not be resolved in a satisfying
manner. Alatas pointed out that, despite Turkey's constitutional
commitment to equal rights for all citizens, Assyrians "have not even
been regarded as citizens". Despite being one of the oldest people in
the region, they have actually been "regarded as aliens". According to
Turkey's constitutional court, all people are equal, but obviously
some are not!
Alatas as well briefly addressed the legal status of the
'acknowledged' minorities in context of the Lausanne Treaty and
pointed out the school situation and the supposed educational freedom
they enjoy: each of the minority schools has to accept a deputy
director of Turkish origin while the children have to start class
lectures every morning with nationalistic Turkish songs praising
Atatürk, like "Türküm dogruyum ....Ne mutlu Türküm diyene!" ("I am a
Turk, honest and hardworking... How happy is the one who says I am a
Turk!").1
Alatas concluded his initial statements by calling the Turkish school
textbooks, where Assyrians are depicted as collaborators and indicted
of treason, a scandal and also criticized the continuing legal siege
of Mar Gabriel Monastery.
Early in the same week (see hristiayangazete.com), Dora organised a
press conference at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, criticizing the
textbooks published by the Turkish Education Ministry as abusive to
Assyrians and Armenians. Dora also met with the Education Minister
Ömer Dinçer on December 15, 2011 to discuss the problem; according to
a statement by Dora, the Minister expressed his discomfort with the
textbooks and that they "were printed in 2009, which is earlier than
he took office." The Minister promised to act immediately on removing
the insulting statements. Dora is convinced that the Minister will do
his duty to make sure that the children and youth will not grow up in
a world full of prejudice.
By Abdulmesih BarAbraham
1Türküm, doğruyum, çalışkanım. İlkem, küçüklerimi korumak, büyüklerimi
saymak, yurdumu, milletimi, özümden çok sevmektir. Ülküm, yükselmek,
ileri gitmektir. Ey büyük Atatürk! Açtığın yolda, gösterdiğin hedefe
durmadan yürüyeceğime ant içerim. Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan
olsun. Ne mutlu Türküm diyene!
English: I am a Turk, honest and hardworking. My principle is to
protect the younger to respect the elder, to love my homeland and my
nation more than myself. My ideal is to rise, to progress. Oh Great
Atatürk ! On the path that you have paved, I swear to walk incessantly
toward the aims that you have set. My existence shall be dedicated to
the Turkish existence. How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk!"
Posted GMT 1-7-2012 23:0:4
Munich (AINA) -- On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of signing an
agreement between Germany and Turkey to recruit migrant workers from
Turkey (German: Anwerbeabkommen), official celebrations were held
across Germany. State representatives of Germany and Turkey met in
Berlin, while celebrations were held in various cities in late October
through November. However, most of those events did not properly
reflect the ethnical and religious mosaic of Turkey. Most politicians
and the mainstream media continue to talk about "Turkish workers" that
came to Germany as 'Gastarbeiter' (guest worker), ignoring the fact
that among the migrants also many Kurds, Assyrians (Turkish: Süryani),
Armenians and Alevis arrived in Germany to work and live with their
families.
During December 15-18, Kurdish Mesopotamia Association organized an
anniversary event on this same occasion with a rich program that
included three political panels, an exhibition and a musical event.
This was done in cooperation with the Social Democratic Party (SPD),
the Green Party in Munich along with the city's cultural board.
The political panels were held on Friday, December 16th in Munich's
old City Hall with more than 300 people attending, including Kurds,
Assyrians, Alevis and Germans.
The first panel focused solely on the situation of the Assyrians in
Turkey. Panel speakers were Erol Dora, the Assyrian member of Turkish
Parliament, attorney and member of the Peace & Democracy Party (BDP)
together with the former chairman of the Turkish Human Rights
Association (IHD) and lawyer Yusuf Alatas, while moderation was done
by Haydar Isik, a Kurdish writer.
The second panel discussed the situation of the Kurds in Munich while
the third panel focused on the political conditions of the Kurds in
Turkey; the latter highlighted BPD member Leyla Zana, also member of
Turkish Parliament, as well as attorney Yusuf Alatas.
The panels were opened by a short speech of Munich's mayor Hep
Monatzeder who said that based on the agreement signed between Turkey
and Germany "people from all ethnic groups came to Germany to work and
live here. Among the people who came to Germany were Assyrians and
Kurds that were in Turkey even not [officially] recognized to exist".
After an opening message by Haydar Isik, who moderated the first
panel, Erol Dora gave a short historical outline on the Assyrians in
Middle East as indigenous people, briefly touching their current
political and social situation in Iraq, Syria and Iran.
With respect to Turkey, Dora focused on the legal status of the
Assyrians in the Turkish Republic in the framework of the Treaty of
Lausanne (of 1923), underlining that Assyrians lacked recognition as a
'non-Muslim minority', whereas Greeks, Armenians, and Jews received
certain religious and cultural rights; still all of them have been
discriminated. Dora further touched on the background of the mass
migration of Assyrians from Turkey to Europe since the 1970s, hinting
that currently more than 80,000 of Assyrians from Turkey and other
Middle-East countries live in Germany.
Lawyer Yusuf Alatas characterized the situation of the Christians and
specifically that of the Assyrians as a "bleeding wound" and stressed
that they "are among the oppressed people in Turkey". But compared to
others, "they are oppressed religiously, too", he said. He stressed
that, "as long as the Kurdish question in Turkey is not solved",
issues related to democratization will not be resolved in a satisfying
manner. Alatas pointed out that, despite Turkey's constitutional
commitment to equal rights for all citizens, Assyrians "have not even
been regarded as citizens". Despite being one of the oldest people in
the region, they have actually been "regarded as aliens". According to
Turkey's constitutional court, all people are equal, but obviously
some are not!
Alatas as well briefly addressed the legal status of the
'acknowledged' minorities in context of the Lausanne Treaty and
pointed out the school situation and the supposed educational freedom
they enjoy: each of the minority schools has to accept a deputy
director of Turkish origin while the children have to start class
lectures every morning with nationalistic Turkish songs praising
Atatürk, like "Türküm dogruyum ....Ne mutlu Türküm diyene!" ("I am a
Turk, honest and hardworking... How happy is the one who says I am a
Turk!").1
Alatas concluded his initial statements by calling the Turkish school
textbooks, where Assyrians are depicted as collaborators and indicted
of treason, a scandal and also criticized the continuing legal siege
of Mar Gabriel Monastery.
Early in the same week (see hristiayangazete.com), Dora organised a
press conference at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, criticizing the
textbooks published by the Turkish Education Ministry as abusive to
Assyrians and Armenians. Dora also met with the Education Minister
Ömer Dinçer on December 15, 2011 to discuss the problem; according to
a statement by Dora, the Minister expressed his discomfort with the
textbooks and that they "were printed in 2009, which is earlier than
he took office." The Minister promised to act immediately on removing
the insulting statements. Dora is convinced that the Minister will do
his duty to make sure that the children and youth will not grow up in
a world full of prejudice.
By Abdulmesih BarAbraham
1Türküm, doğruyum, çalışkanım. İlkem, küçüklerimi korumak, büyüklerimi
saymak, yurdumu, milletimi, özümden çok sevmektir. Ülküm, yükselmek,
ileri gitmektir. Ey büyük Atatürk! Açtığın yolda, gösterdiğin hedefe
durmadan yürüyeceğime ant içerim. Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan
olsun. Ne mutlu Türküm diyene!
English: I am a Turk, honest and hardworking. My principle is to
protect the younger to respect the elder, to love my homeland and my
nation more than myself. My ideal is to rise, to progress. Oh Great
Atatürk ! On the path that you have paved, I swear to walk incessantly
toward the aims that you have set. My existence shall be dedicated to
the Turkish existence. How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk!"