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Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 5 2013
Turkey may offer citizenship to Syriacs fleeing war in Syria
5 May 2013 /AYDIN ALBAYRAK, ANKARA
Turkey is seemingly preparing, with top government officials having in
recent months called on Syriacs to return to Turkey, to offer Turkish
citizenship to Syriacs who were or are related to former citizens of
Turkey and who are now in a difficult situation in war-torn Syria.
`The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working to provide Syriacs
with Turkish citizenship,' Evgil Türker, head of the Federation of
Syriac Associations in Turkey said at a conference in Ankara on
Syriacs in Syria at the beginning of the week. Turkey is actually the
former homeland of many Syriacs who presently live in Syria and
Europe, since, in the past, a large number of Syriacs left the country
because they were ostracized by Muslim society due to their religion
and were not allowed by the state to enjoy their rights.
According to estimates, out of a total of 2.5-3 million Syriacs living
in Syria -- Syriacs believe all Christians, apart from Armenians, in
Syria to be of Syriac origin based on historical grounds --180,000
live in Syria's Haseki province, which sits on the Turkish-Syrian
border.
`Maybe more than 90 percent of them are people whose elders emigrated
from Turkey,' Türker told Sunday's Zaman on the sidelines of the
conference `Syrian Syriacs and Turkey: Building Peace Together.'
Granting Syriacs Turkish citizenship would not be something
unimaginable because Türker's fathers and grandfathers were formerly
registered in Midyat, Mardin province, in the birth registry anyway.
Calls made in previous months to Syriacs living abroad to convince
them to return to Turkey, by several leading figures of the government
such as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an and Foreign Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu, may be taken as a strong indication of Turkey's intention
of offering citizenship to those Syriacs in Syria who were, or at
least whose parents or grandparents were formerly Turkish citizens. A
Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity also
believes that recent statements made by top government officials may
be taken as a sign that Turkey is preparing to take such a step.
As part of efforts to mend fences with the Syriacs of Turkey, Turkish
President Abdullah Gül met with leaders of Turkey's Syriac community
at the Çankaya presidential palace in February. For the first time in
history, a member of Turkey's Christian minority, Syriac Orthodox
Archbishop Yusuf Çetin, accompanied a Turkish president on a trip
abroad, in particular to Sweden, where a large number of Syriacs live.
DavutoÄ?lu, for his part, met with representatives of the Syriac
community in Turkey in March and reaffirmed that Turkey was ready to
extend help in every way possible to its Syriac brothers in Syria.
Syriacs urge Turkey to adopt a more encompassing discourse, a
discourse not solely based on Sunnis, but towards opposition groups in
Syria. Tuma Çelik, Turkey representative of the European Syriac Union
(ESU), maintained that Turkey has ignored, up until recently, Syriacs
in its Syria policy, but he also admitted that there have recently
been some positive developments in that regard. Türker is hopeful.
`There are indications that Turkey will develop a different attitude
[from the one in the past],' he said, adding, `It should also take
Christians [in Syria] into account.' Issou Gouriye, leader of the
Syriac Union Party, is more cautious in his optimism. `We hear that
Turkey has taken some positive steps, but the effects haven't, as of
yet, been felt by us in Syria,' he said at the meeting organized in
Ankara.
Although they had, in the past, troubles in living comfortably in
Turkey, Syriacs see Turkey as the main actor they could possibly turn
to when in trouble and expect to receive greater help from Turkey. `We
have lived together for a thousand years. Who else can we lay our
expectations on, if not Turkey?' Gouriye, who, having studied at a
Turkish university, can speak Turkish fluently, told Sunday's Zaman.
`If Turkey is willing to do its part, there is a lot that can be done
together,' he added.
Syriacs, who historically see Syria as their homeland, are probably
one of the most adversely affected ethnic and religious groups in the
civil war in Syria. Only recently two archbishops from the Syriac
Orthodox and Melkite (mostly Greek Orthodox) churches were abducted by
gunmen in Aleppo. Syriacs are worried that attacks against Christians
aim not only to drive Syriacs out of Syria, land on which they have
been living for thousands of years, but also to cause division and
conflict among opposition groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Syriacs' fears are not baseless, considering what happened in Iraq.
According to Çelik, two-thirds of out of more than 1 million Syriacs
in Iraq migrated following the American occupation. For the moment,
the total number of Syriacs who fled the civil war in Syria by seeking
shelter in a foreign country makes up no more than 1 percent of all
Syriacs in Syria. But should the civil war reach the province of
Haseki, where a large number of Syriacs live and where there are no
major clashes at the moment, the number of Syriacs who may choose to
flee the country could significantly increase.
By some estimates, there are presently around 500 Syriacs who have
come to Turkey from Syria. But Turkey has been building, in the town
of Midyat in Mardin province, a refugee camp for Syriacs with a
capacity to accommodate 4,000 people, and another with a capacity of
6,000 people for Kurds and Arabs who might flee to Turkey. It may be
out of an expectation that clashes could in the near future reach the
Haseki region, which lies along some of Turkey's border with Syria and
which is also densely populated by Kurds, that Turkey is busy with
camp building.
As Syria is the only country where Syriacs have a relatively dense
population, should Syriacs in Syria, as the ones in Iraq have done in
the past, flee the country because of the civil war, the ethnic group
will be scattered around the world. That's why the Federation of
Syriac Associations is not willing to give a helping hand to Syriacs
of Syria who are trying to emigrate abroad. `The only country where we
have now a mass population is Syria,' Türker said, defending the
federation's stance.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-314505-turkey-may-offer-citizenship-to-syriacs-fleeing-war-in-syria.html
From: Baghdasarian
May 5 2013
Turkey may offer citizenship to Syriacs fleeing war in Syria
5 May 2013 /AYDIN ALBAYRAK, ANKARA
Turkey is seemingly preparing, with top government officials having in
recent months called on Syriacs to return to Turkey, to offer Turkish
citizenship to Syriacs who were or are related to former citizens of
Turkey and who are now in a difficult situation in war-torn Syria.
`The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working to provide Syriacs
with Turkish citizenship,' Evgil Türker, head of the Federation of
Syriac Associations in Turkey said at a conference in Ankara on
Syriacs in Syria at the beginning of the week. Turkey is actually the
former homeland of many Syriacs who presently live in Syria and
Europe, since, in the past, a large number of Syriacs left the country
because they were ostracized by Muslim society due to their religion
and were not allowed by the state to enjoy their rights.
According to estimates, out of a total of 2.5-3 million Syriacs living
in Syria -- Syriacs believe all Christians, apart from Armenians, in
Syria to be of Syriac origin based on historical grounds --180,000
live in Syria's Haseki province, which sits on the Turkish-Syrian
border.
`Maybe more than 90 percent of them are people whose elders emigrated
from Turkey,' Türker told Sunday's Zaman on the sidelines of the
conference `Syrian Syriacs and Turkey: Building Peace Together.'
Granting Syriacs Turkish citizenship would not be something
unimaginable because Türker's fathers and grandfathers were formerly
registered in Midyat, Mardin province, in the birth registry anyway.
Calls made in previous months to Syriacs living abroad to convince
them to return to Turkey, by several leading figures of the government
such as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an and Foreign Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu, may be taken as a strong indication of Turkey's intention
of offering citizenship to those Syriacs in Syria who were, or at
least whose parents or grandparents were formerly Turkish citizens. A
Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity also
believes that recent statements made by top government officials may
be taken as a sign that Turkey is preparing to take such a step.
As part of efforts to mend fences with the Syriacs of Turkey, Turkish
President Abdullah Gül met with leaders of Turkey's Syriac community
at the Çankaya presidential palace in February. For the first time in
history, a member of Turkey's Christian minority, Syriac Orthodox
Archbishop Yusuf Çetin, accompanied a Turkish president on a trip
abroad, in particular to Sweden, where a large number of Syriacs live.
DavutoÄ?lu, for his part, met with representatives of the Syriac
community in Turkey in March and reaffirmed that Turkey was ready to
extend help in every way possible to its Syriac brothers in Syria.
Syriacs urge Turkey to adopt a more encompassing discourse, a
discourse not solely based on Sunnis, but towards opposition groups in
Syria. Tuma Çelik, Turkey representative of the European Syriac Union
(ESU), maintained that Turkey has ignored, up until recently, Syriacs
in its Syria policy, but he also admitted that there have recently
been some positive developments in that regard. Türker is hopeful.
`There are indications that Turkey will develop a different attitude
[from the one in the past],' he said, adding, `It should also take
Christians [in Syria] into account.' Issou Gouriye, leader of the
Syriac Union Party, is more cautious in his optimism. `We hear that
Turkey has taken some positive steps, but the effects haven't, as of
yet, been felt by us in Syria,' he said at the meeting organized in
Ankara.
Although they had, in the past, troubles in living comfortably in
Turkey, Syriacs see Turkey as the main actor they could possibly turn
to when in trouble and expect to receive greater help from Turkey. `We
have lived together for a thousand years. Who else can we lay our
expectations on, if not Turkey?' Gouriye, who, having studied at a
Turkish university, can speak Turkish fluently, told Sunday's Zaman.
`If Turkey is willing to do its part, there is a lot that can be done
together,' he added.
Syriacs, who historically see Syria as their homeland, are probably
one of the most adversely affected ethnic and religious groups in the
civil war in Syria. Only recently two archbishops from the Syriac
Orthodox and Melkite (mostly Greek Orthodox) churches were abducted by
gunmen in Aleppo. Syriacs are worried that attacks against Christians
aim not only to drive Syriacs out of Syria, land on which they have
been living for thousands of years, but also to cause division and
conflict among opposition groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Syriacs' fears are not baseless, considering what happened in Iraq.
According to Çelik, two-thirds of out of more than 1 million Syriacs
in Iraq migrated following the American occupation. For the moment,
the total number of Syriacs who fled the civil war in Syria by seeking
shelter in a foreign country makes up no more than 1 percent of all
Syriacs in Syria. But should the civil war reach the province of
Haseki, where a large number of Syriacs live and where there are no
major clashes at the moment, the number of Syriacs who may choose to
flee the country could significantly increase.
By some estimates, there are presently around 500 Syriacs who have
come to Turkey from Syria. But Turkey has been building, in the town
of Midyat in Mardin province, a refugee camp for Syriacs with a
capacity to accommodate 4,000 people, and another with a capacity of
6,000 people for Kurds and Arabs who might flee to Turkey. It may be
out of an expectation that clashes could in the near future reach the
Haseki region, which lies along some of Turkey's border with Syria and
which is also densely populated by Kurds, that Turkey is busy with
camp building.
As Syria is the only country where Syriacs have a relatively dense
population, should Syriacs in Syria, as the ones in Iraq have done in
the past, flee the country because of the civil war, the ethnic group
will be scattered around the world. That's why the Federation of
Syriac Associations is not willing to give a helping hand to Syriacs
of Syria who are trying to emigrate abroad. `The only country where we
have now a mass population is Syria,' Türker said, defending the
federation's stance.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-314505-turkey-may-offer-citizenship-to-syriacs-fleeing-war-in-syria.html
From: Baghdasarian