October 2006

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LANGUAGE REFORM IN TURKEY COMPLETELY INSUFFICIENT, SAYS IHF

October 2006 – Amidst the current negotiations for the possible future accession of Turkey to the European Union, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights has published a 26-page briefing paper entitled Turkey: A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation. IHF is an international, nongovernmental organization constituted by national Helsinki Committees and Cooperating Organizations in the participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The briefing paper discusses the legal basis for Turkey’s restrictive minority polices, its interpretation by authorities, and an abundant misuse of laws against minority members and individuals who seek to promote minority rights. According to the report, “Turkey continues to practice a policy of “Turkification””. This policy amounts to strategies that include denying formal recognition of minority groups, hindering their access to the media, limiting their political participation and violating their freedom of expression, especially in their own language.

With reference to the Kurdish language, the report points out that “recent reforms that have lifted some language restrictions in broadcasting and education of minority languages have been clearly insufficient”, and that “it is by law prohibited to use any other language but Turkish in political activities”.

As regards other languages such as Greek or Armenian, the report states that “in practice the proper functioning of minority schools is hindered in several ways”, even though non-Muslim religious minorities have the right to give language education in their own language.