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TURKEY FAILS TO PROTECT ITS MINORITIES ACCORDING TO A RECENT REPORT (Minority Rights Group)
September 2004 –Turkey's treatment of minorities is still below the required standards for EU accession in accordance with a submission to the EU and the Turkish Government suggesting that reforms keep on unimplemented. This is the conclusion of the non-governmental organization Minority Rights Group International (MRG). 'Beyond a façade of reform which looks progressive on paper, general human and minority rights practice and implementation still falls far short of standards expected of European Union Members', stated the organisation. Actually, the European Commission is currently writing a report on Turkey, which will be finalised this month and, on the basis of it, the heads of government will decide in the EU Council of December 2004 if they open the negotiations with Turkey on membership. Regarding language rights MRG emphasizes that Kurds, Laz and Circassians have requested several times their languages at schools or their languages being an optional subject. However, they have been denied even in regions where they are a majority. As for the political participation, there are restrictions regarding the possibility of minority representation, and the usage of minority languages in political activities under the Political Parties Law is banned. In a list of recommendations, MRG calls upon the Government of Turkey to maintain its obligations under constitutional and international law including Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states that: ‘In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language’. Turkey is also urged to sign and ratify without reservation the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on National Minorities (FCNM).
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