In Turkey, an historic self-criticism

03/07/2009

The head of Turkey's government acknowledged that the country has not stepped up to the plate in dealing with minority issues.

By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times in Ankara -- 03/07/09

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised the country's treatment of minorities. [Getty Images]

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May offered a rare critical assessment of how the country has dealt with minorities during its recent history.

"For years, those of different ethnic identity have been chased out of the country … In fact that was an outcome of a fascist approach," he said.

The Jewish community in Turkey immediately acknowledged Erdogan's words. "[The] prime minister told the truth," community Chairman Silvyo Ovadya told the daily Milliyet.

Before and after World War I -- when the Ottoman Empire transitioned into a modern nation-state -- nearly two million Greeks, 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Jews lived in Turkey.

The ensuing turbulence saw massacres and forced deportations, and a 1923 population exchange among Balkan countries thinned the number of minorities further.

Nearly half a million Turks and 1.5 million Greeks moved to Turkey and Greece respectively.".

While the three non-Muslim Turkish minorities -- Jews, Armenians and Greeks -- enjoy equal rights under the Turkish Constitution, they have faced periodic discrimination. Today, an estimated 60,000 Armenians, 25,000 Jews, and 3,000 to 4,000 Greeks live in Turkey.

The EU's 2008 Progress Report criticised the country for failing to provide solutions to persistent minority-related issues. "Non-Muslim communities still face problems due to lack of legal personality," said the report.

The Union also criticised Turkey's continued restrictions on the training and treatment of non-Muslim clergy. "Turkish legislation does not provide private higher religious education for these communities and there are no such opportunities in the public educational system. The Halki Greek Orthodox seminary remains closed," it said.

The report concluded that "implementation of the Ministry of Interior Circular of June 19th 2007 on the religious freedom of non-Muslim Turkish citizens has not yet had the desired effect."

The prime minister's words seemed aimed at defusing concerns that his party is not committed fully to minority rights. Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul, for instance, came under fire for suggesting that Turkey can "never become a nation-state … if Greeks and Armenians are still major parts of the society".

According to Vatan columnist Okay Gonensin, Erdogan's remarks "can be seen as a big step". A noted expert on minorities in Turkey, Baskin Oran, also described them as a milestone.

"A taboo has been broken," Oran told the Istanbul-based Armenian newspaper Agos. "From now on, this is irreversible. A new era is opening."