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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 3 2012
It's time for hate crime law
by Sedat Ergin
Taksim Square in downtown Istanbul is a place where numerous important
events have taken place, leaving their mark on Turkish history. The
history of this square is pretty much the recent history of Turkey.
And a racist stain was added to the history of this square last Sunday
that will not be very easy to erase.
Slogans blessing murder
A rally that was organized with a just and legitimate demand, the
protest of the massacre committed by Armenian soldiers 20 years ago on
Azeri soil in Karabakh at Khojaly and the commemoration of those who
died in the attack, unfortunately turned into an organization
dominated by racism and hate speech.
Banners that were held during the demonstration reading `You are all
Armenians; you are all bastards' or `[The fact that] those who cannot
approach this atrocity with humanitarian consciousness are all
Armenians is because of their bestialities' reflected a mentality
instigating hate.
Just as thought-provoking was that some demonstrators in the rally
were able to chant slogans such as `We are all Ogün Samast' (the
convicted murderer of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink) and
`Grey wolves [the political symbol of extreme nationalists] are here,
where are the Hrants?' These slogans contain a context that openly
embraced, blessed and encouraged a murder.
These voices and images that have reached all of Turkey from Taksim
Square should be sufficient warning to show the need to raise
awareness in society against hate speech and the need to fight this
discourse at every turn.
Hate speech laws in the West
The first dimension of the problem - let's accept it - is that hate
speech has not been encoded strongly enough in our social culture as a
major shame, as a major fault at the moral and conscience levels. A
serious awareness effort is needed in this field.
Fighting hate speech and hate crimes also has a crucial significance
for social peace. The reason for this is the fact that the targeted
individual in a hate crime is attacked because of his or her identity.
Thus, whoever regards himself/herself as part of that identity
actually becomes a target/victim. For example, if a person is beaten
because he is Armenian or if he is humiliated because he is Alevi, the
effect of the act is not limited to the individual targeted. With a
multiplier effect, everybody who defines himself or herself as
belonging to that identity experiences victimhood.
It is not enough just to raise awareness to fight this problem. At the
same time, hate crimes should also be subject to strong legal
measures. As a matter of fact, the Turkish Penal Code has such
articles (126 and 220) that cover `Public insults to a segment of
society based on social class, race, religion, sect, gender or
regional difference,' but despite that, these articles that partially
correspond to hate crimes are not processed effectively in our legal
system.
The solution for Turkey now is to issue a special law on hate speech
and hate crimes. Hate crimes, in their evolution in universal law in
the past 20 years, have both been stated as an obligation in
international pacts, and numerous Western countries have added these
obligations to their national law through the passage of special laws.
Obligation to European court
Other than that, this topic has gone beyond being a preference for
Turkey. In its verdict in 2010 when the European Court of Human Rights
convicted Turkey in the Hrant Dink murder, a major mission was given
to the Justice and Development Party (Ak Parti) government on the
subject of hate crimes.
Look at what articles 121 and 122 of the verdict say, in a summary:
`Sanctioning hate speech based on ethnic or religious origins is a
pressing social need and is a necessity in a democratic society ...
[This] is among the state's [Turkey's] obligations derived from
international pacts, especially from decisions of the Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe...'
Because Turkey is obliged to implement the European court's decisions,
it has to put into practice this article of the decision. But the fact
that there is no obligation mentioned on this topic in the
government's Action Plan on the implementation of the Hrant Dink
verdict dated Sept. 23, 2011 and submitted to the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers is worth noticing.
A huge mission falls to civil society on this matter. In this respect,
the Hate Crimes Law Campaign Platform initiative, formed by 60
nongovernmental organizations that range from Alevi federations to
Christian groups, from gay associations to the Handicapped Foundation,
representing segments who are generally subject to discrimination,
deserves absolute support.
One can join the campaign at http://nefretme.net/ or http://www.nefretme.org.
Sedat Ergin is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece was
published on March 2. It was translated into English by the Daily News
staff.
March/03/2012
March 3 2012
It's time for hate crime law
by Sedat Ergin
Taksim Square in downtown Istanbul is a place where numerous important
events have taken place, leaving their mark on Turkish history. The
history of this square is pretty much the recent history of Turkey.
And a racist stain was added to the history of this square last Sunday
that will not be very easy to erase.
Slogans blessing murder
A rally that was organized with a just and legitimate demand, the
protest of the massacre committed by Armenian soldiers 20 years ago on
Azeri soil in Karabakh at Khojaly and the commemoration of those who
died in the attack, unfortunately turned into an organization
dominated by racism and hate speech.
Banners that were held during the demonstration reading `You are all
Armenians; you are all bastards' or `[The fact that] those who cannot
approach this atrocity with humanitarian consciousness are all
Armenians is because of their bestialities' reflected a mentality
instigating hate.
Just as thought-provoking was that some demonstrators in the rally
were able to chant slogans such as `We are all Ogün Samast' (the
convicted murderer of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink) and
`Grey wolves [the political symbol of extreme nationalists] are here,
where are the Hrants?' These slogans contain a context that openly
embraced, blessed and encouraged a murder.
These voices and images that have reached all of Turkey from Taksim
Square should be sufficient warning to show the need to raise
awareness in society against hate speech and the need to fight this
discourse at every turn.
Hate speech laws in the West
The first dimension of the problem - let's accept it - is that hate
speech has not been encoded strongly enough in our social culture as a
major shame, as a major fault at the moral and conscience levels. A
serious awareness effort is needed in this field.
Fighting hate speech and hate crimes also has a crucial significance
for social peace. The reason for this is the fact that the targeted
individual in a hate crime is attacked because of his or her identity.
Thus, whoever regards himself/herself as part of that identity
actually becomes a target/victim. For example, if a person is beaten
because he is Armenian or if he is humiliated because he is Alevi, the
effect of the act is not limited to the individual targeted. With a
multiplier effect, everybody who defines himself or herself as
belonging to that identity experiences victimhood.
It is not enough just to raise awareness to fight this problem. At the
same time, hate crimes should also be subject to strong legal
measures. As a matter of fact, the Turkish Penal Code has such
articles (126 and 220) that cover `Public insults to a segment of
society based on social class, race, religion, sect, gender or
regional difference,' but despite that, these articles that partially
correspond to hate crimes are not processed effectively in our legal
system.
The solution for Turkey now is to issue a special law on hate speech
and hate crimes. Hate crimes, in their evolution in universal law in
the past 20 years, have both been stated as an obligation in
international pacts, and numerous Western countries have added these
obligations to their national law through the passage of special laws.
Obligation to European court
Other than that, this topic has gone beyond being a preference for
Turkey. In its verdict in 2010 when the European Court of Human Rights
convicted Turkey in the Hrant Dink murder, a major mission was given
to the Justice and Development Party (Ak Parti) government on the
subject of hate crimes.
Look at what articles 121 and 122 of the verdict say, in a summary:
`Sanctioning hate speech based on ethnic or religious origins is a
pressing social need and is a necessity in a democratic society ...
[This] is among the state's [Turkey's] obligations derived from
international pacts, especially from decisions of the Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe...'
Because Turkey is obliged to implement the European court's decisions,
it has to put into practice this article of the decision. But the fact
that there is no obligation mentioned on this topic in the
government's Action Plan on the implementation of the Hrant Dink
verdict dated Sept. 23, 2011 and submitted to the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers is worth noticing.
A huge mission falls to civil society on this matter. In this respect,
the Hate Crimes Law Campaign Platform initiative, formed by 60
nongovernmental organizations that range from Alevi federations to
Christian groups, from gay associations to the Handicapped Foundation,
representing segments who are generally subject to discrimination,
deserves absolute support.
One can join the campaign at http://nefretme.net/ or http://www.nefretme.org.
Sedat Ergin is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece was
published on March 2. It was translated into English by the Daily News
staff.
March/03/2012