Turkish Forum

Tag: minorities

  • US report criticizes Turkey on religious rights

    US report criticizes Turkey on religious rights

    By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press – 18 hours ago

    religionsWASHINGTON (AP) — An annual U.S. government report is adding U.S. ally Turkey as well as Tajikistan to a list of the worst violators of religious rights.

    The report to be released Tuesday by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom cites Turkey for “systematic and egregious limitations” on religious liberty. Turkey and Tajikistan are among a total of 16 nations listed by the commission as countries of particular concern.

    The Turkish ambassador to Washington, Mamik Tan, dismissed the commission’s action as unjustified.

    “Any unbiased eye will immediately realize that that’s not where Turkey belongs in the USCIRF annual report,” Tan told The Associated Press.

    He said the Turkish government began action last year to restore impounded goods to non-Muslim foundations. “The categorization of Turkey as a ‘country of particular concern’ is naturally unexpected as much as it is unfair,” Tan said.

    Among other problems, the report criticizes Turkey for regulating non-Muslim groups by restricting how they can train clergy, offer education and own their places of worship.

    Congress established the commission in 1998 to compile the reports for use by the president, the secretary of state, and lawmakers. Aside from Turkey and Tajikistan, the report also listed: Myanmar, North Korea, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

    While the commission recommends action the U.S. government should take to encourage improvements in religious freedom in the various countries, the State Department usually narrows down the list to a smaller group it cites for particular concern in its own annual report on religious freedom. Those countries can be subject to sanctions.

    As a NATO ally, Turkey stands out among the other countries cited by the commission and is unlikely to incur repercussions from the U.S. government. Indeed, the report seems at odds with the State Department’s assessment of Turkey. When the department released its report last year, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Turkey for taking “serious steps to improve the climate for religious tolerance.”

    Late Monday, five members of the commission released a statement saying that one member had changed his position from recommending Turkey as a country of particular concern to recommending it for the commission’s watch list, a lower-level designation.

    The commission’s report also includes a watch list of countries it says require close monitoring because of violations committed or tolerated by their governments. Nine countries made that list in 2012: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia and Venezuela.

    Follow Butler at

    via The Associated Press: US report criticizes Turkey on religious rights.

  • Turkey: Making Room for Religious Minorities

    Turkey: Making Room for Religious Minorities

    With the opening of Turkey’s parliament on October 1 and the start of work on replacing the country’s constitution, members of the country’s religious minority groups are hoping that years of institutional and legal discrimination will come to an end in the not-too-distant future.

    “We are expecting to contribute . . . our ideas and our support to this process,” said Laki Vingas, a Greek-Turkish businessman and the elected representative for 161 non-Muslim minority foundations in their dealings with the Turkish state. “We have seen a big change in the way the government is cooperating with us.”

    Over its nine-year tenure in power, the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) has tried to distinguish itself from its predecessors by addressing some of the grievances of Turkey’s non-Muslim religious minorities. Reforms, many of which were demanded by the European Union, have included the easing of controls on non-Muslim foundations, the renovation of places of worship and the ending of rhetoric that termed non-Muslims as “yabancı” or foreigners.

    “The times when a citizen of ours would be oppressed due to his religious, ethnic origin or a different way of life are over,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared this September at a Ramadan dinner attended by non-Muslim minority leaders. “This is not about doing a favor; this is about rectifying an injustice.”

    The state’s confiscation of property owned by non-Muslim religious communities, a practice that dates back to 1936, is one of the most contentious issues for Turkey’s Christian and Jewish minorities. “It was a way of stealing, of plundering the wealth of these minorities,” charged Ishak Alaton, a leading industrialist and prominent figure among Turkey’s estimated 25,000-strong Jewish community.

    For decades, foundations have been battling in the courts, seeking the return of schools, cemeteries, churches and other properties. “This land was taken from the Armenian Yedikule Surp Pirgic hospital in 1952 because of the old mentality,” said Melkon Karakose, an Armenian community activist, pointing to a sports field run by an Istanbul district government. “Now we are fighting to get it back.”

    Karakose has been working on behalf of various foundations in the courts for 25 years. He’s more optimistic now than ever about the chances for change. “Thanks to the new mindset, the government will make sure we get back our lands,” he said.

    Justice is likely to come at a substantial cost to the government.

    “We are talking about huge [real estate] values. Each case will be an independent case that will be taken court,” warned Alaton, the Jewish community activist.

    Vingas, who represents the non-Muslim foundations in their dealings with the state, says there are around 150 properties and buildings that have been identified as eligible for restitution. Many occupy prime locations in Istanbul’s red-hot property market.

    Vingas added that Turkey’s non-Muslim minorities would welcome any windfall in valuable property holdings, but cautioned that the issue went beyond money. “It is a right and it is a cultural heritage,” he underlined. “It’s not a matter of how rich the minority foundations will become. But it’s a necessity to [bring] back what belong[s] to your family. The minorities, for almost the [entire] 20th century, have suffered.”

    Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University, touted the significance of the government’s rhetoric. “This is a total reversal of this attitude whereby the non-Muslims were considered, sometimes openly, as foreigners, “Aktar said.

    The government’s willingness to explore restitution does not yet cover the hundreds, if not thousands, of property seizures from individuals, or the takeovers that occurred before 1936. An even more contentious point is confiscation that occurred prior to the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, especially during the World War I-era massacre of ethnic Armenians.

    The restitution of property would only be the start of a process that ensures religious freedom for minorities. Both Armenian and Greek churches, for example, have reopened. Yet, the leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul still lack legal status in Turkey. The training of priests also is shaping up as a contentious issue.

    The Greek Orthodox Church is pressing for the reopening of the Halki Seminary, which the government closed in 1974. International pressure, including from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is growing for the reopening. But the Turkish government so far steadfastly refuses, arguing that Greece must make reciprocal concessions to its Turkish minority.

    On a day-to-day level, non-Muslim minorities complain that they face discrimination in government employment, including de facto exclusion from the judiciary system, police or military; non-Muslims generally do not hold senior positions in such professions. “The problems would finish when my son can be a ranking soldier, or my niece becomes a police officer,” said Karakose, the Armenian community activist. “After all this happen[s], then the problems can be solved. And I believe this will happen.”

    Editor’s note:

    Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.

    via Turkey: Making Room for Religious Minorities | EurasiaNet.org.

  • Turkish P.M. Erdogan: We Cannot Deny Our Ottoman Past

    Turkish P.M. Erdogan: We Cannot Deny Our Ottoman Past

    Posted by Ishaan Tharoor Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stands among Justice and Development Party (AKP) members during a meeting at the party headquarters in Ankara, September 28, 2011. (Photo: Adem Altan /AFP / Getty Images) Read more:
    Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stands among Justice and Development Party (AKP) members during a meeting at the party headquarters in Ankara, September 28, 2011. (Photo: Adem Altan /AFP / Getty Images) Read more:


    Our interview with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, published earlier this week on Global Spin, dwelled mostly on the growing shadow cast by the charismatic premier across the face of Mideast geo-politics. One question edited out of the earlier transcript raised the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, whose dominion once stretched over much of the region. As they now swagger through Cairo, Tripoli and other former Ottoman strongholds, Erdogan and — perhaps to even greater degree — his Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have earned the monicker of “neo-Ottomans.”

    Few democratically-elected statesmen in this day and age would welcome the label of imperialists. And, for whatever connotations “neo-Ottomanism” invokes abroad, it’s a far more sensitive subject domestically in Turkey. Nearly a century of Ataturk-inspired, Western-facing secularism meant those raised in modern Turkey looked with wariness upon the decadence, decay and religiosity of Ottoman times, when, after all, Istanbul was the veritable capital of the putative Caliphate.

    But much has changed since Erdogan’s rise to power. Turkey no longer pines after Europe — indeed, see Erdogan’s matter-of-fact retort at the close of our interview with him — is ruled by a moderate Islamist party, and has signaled clear intent to influence events in many of the countries once ruled by Ottoman Sultans. Below is Erdogan’s response to a question I posed to him on whether he accepted donning the neo-Ottoman mantle:

    Of course we now live in a very different world, which is going through a scary process of transition and change. We were born and raised on the land that is the legacy of the Ottoman empire. They are our ancestors. It is out of the question that we might deny that presence. Of course, the empire had some beautiful parts and some not so beautiful parts. It’s a very natural right for us to use what was beautiful about the Ottoman Empire today. We need to upgrade ourselves in every sense, socially, economically, politically. If we cannot upgrade ourselves and the way we perceive the world, we will lag behind tremendously. It would be self-denial. That’s why whether it be in the Middle East or North Africa or anywhere in the world, our perception has in its core this wealth that is coming from our historical legacy. But it’s established upon principles of peace. And it all depends on people loving one another without discrimination whatsoever.

    Critics may wonder how willing Erdogan and other Turkish leaders are to actually admit to the empire’s “not so beautiful parts”, not least the grisly massacre of Armenians when the Ottoman Empire itself was on its last legs. Turkish diplomats on the sidelines of U.N. meetings spoke to TIME of Erdogan’s professed commitment to values of peace, tolerance and neighborly love — a lofty sentiment not exactly on display during the continued Turkish offensive against rebel Kurds in the country’s east.

    Still, it’s noteworthy that the Turkish P.M. sees in the Ottoman past a “wealth” — a soft-power cachet, based presumably on the empire’s extraordinary diversity and tolerance of many faiths — to inform the present. We tend to forgive many Western powers, say the French, British and even the Americans, for tracing their foreign policies sometimes in memory (or nostalgia) of lapsed empire. An ascendant, capable Turkey has every right to walk its own post-imperial path as well.

    via Turkish P.M. Erdogan: We Cannot Deny Our Ottoman Past – Global Spin – TIME.com.

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  • Sending non-Muslims away was a bad idea

    Sending non-Muslims away was a bad idea

    Regional disparity is an important issue in Turkey. Take for example, the top 1,000 industrial companies list of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO-1000). Have you ever looked at the geographical location of the companies in the list? Let me tell you: There are no factories in the east of Turkey. Let me correct: If you look for provinces with at least three companies on the ISO-1000 list, then the whole east of Turkey looks empty. It is sad.

    Why is that so? It looks as if the “capabilities sets” of those provinces do not allow them to host factories. Capabilities are not only about hardware such as electricity, roads and buildings. They are also about the software, such as a skilled labor force, availability of trade connections, technical know-how, etc. Software issues also include restaurants, shopping centers, quality schools and hospitals for the skilled “expat” workers who may choose to work there. Industrialization comes as a package. That package is the capabilities set of the geographical location. Those provinces that have gradually improved the capabilities set have developed industrial capacity in their towns. That is how industry has spread throughout Anatolia in the last two decades. Industrial development requires enrichment of the local capabilities set. But still the regional disparity is there to stay. The discrepancy is about capabilities sets.

    Sumru Altuğ of Koç University in Istanbul is noting internal migration as a remedy for regional disparity in Turkey. That was mentioned in a May 2010 policy note from the TÜSİAD-Koç University Economic Research Forum. That is the urban-rural migration within the country. When I was born about 50 years ago, 30 percent of the population was living in urban centers. Now that has increased to 75 percent. There is a flow of migrants from poor rural to rich urban centers.

    What is the impact of migration on the capabilities sets of migration-sending provinces? There lies the difference between the early-1900 and post-1960 migrations in Anatolia. Migration had corrosive effects on capabilities sets of sender provinces at the beginning of the 20th century. Then there was a sizable non-Muslim population in Anatolia contributing to the capabilities sets of their provinces. They had trade connections, commercial know-how and technical skills. And then they were gone. Now there are none. In the jingoistic atmosphere of the nation-building time, sending non-Muslims away looked like a good idea for our founding fathers. However, looking back now, it definitely had a corrosive effect on the capabilities set of migrant-sending provinces. Nation-building exercises in this neighborhood at the time had a detrimental effect on capabilities sets of many provinces and countries.

    The post-1960 migratory trend from poor to rich provinces, on the other hand, is more neutral. That did not have a major impact on the skills set of the provinces providing migrants to the rich urban centers. Those who are migrating this time are already poor and have no skills whatsoever.

    It is not only in Anatolia. Max von Oppenheim, the Pan-German contemporary of Kaiser Wilhelm, son of the Oppenheim banking dynasty, reporting on a wave of Lebanese Christian migration to America in spring 1903, noted with anger the economic impact of this brain drain on Beirut. It was everywhere in the Ottoman Empire at the same time. The fall of an empire is full of sorrows.

    via Sending non-Muslims away was a bad idea – Hurriyet Daily News.

  • Non-Muslims should come back to Turkey

    Non-Muslims should come back to Turkey

    Non-Muslims should come back to Turkey

    Last week I asked a question about newly introduced reforms concerning minority foundations in Turkey. Returning the properties of non-Muslim foundations is an important step forward, but what about the seized foundations?

     

    Will this government also introduce some regulations allowing non-Muslim communities to regain their seized foundations? The story of these seized foundations is part of a dimension of Turkish history which is not discussed in an open and conscious way. Many foundations belonging to minorities were taken from them just because of the way they were organized. Legal provisions require these foundations to be run by people living in the region in which they are located. However, minorities have serious difficulty replacing aging members or those who pass away with young people. This is a sad reality. The numbers of minorities are so small and they are getting old and dying. The story of the “seized foundations” reveals another story about our minorities: We are simply losing them.

    My intention in this article is not to focus on finding a technical answer to the question of seized foundations, but rather to follow its social and historical implications.

    Let’s talk about Turkey’s Greek minority. Their number is estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000 and most of these people are quite old. They do not have a young generation coming up behind them. We could solve the problem of seized foundations with some new legal instruments allowing non-Muslim congregations to merge their foundations with others that can still function. But even this would only provide temporary relief because many of these functioning foundations will die soon, since there is no young generation to run them.

    Last Saturday I read a news story in the Star daily that filled me with warm feelings and made me hopeful. Star interviewed Professor Niko Uzunoğlu, chair of the Universal Federation of Greeks, an NGO based in Greece. Uzunoğlu, like many Greeks who migrated from Turkey, has roots in Anatolia and wants to come back one day. Apparently, the recent reforms have made many Greeks of Anatolian origin feel very hopeful about coming back. “The decision of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to return the property of minority groups, was perceived as a call to the 120,000 Rum living in Greece to come back to Turkey,” Uzunoğlu said.

    Uzunoğlu also gave some background about how Turkey’s relationship with its minorities has deteriorated: “This issue has degenerated over time. Rum [ethnic Greek] people living in İstanbul were prohibited from engaging in many occupations in 1932. As a result of that, 20,000 Rum left Turkey. However, those people were subject to the Treaty of Lausanne. Turkey and Greece did not have any problems during World War II. But the minorities sub-commission founded by Ismet Inönü, the second prime minister of the Turkish Republic, in 1961 called a halt to bilateral relations, which had been improving at that time. Sixty thousand of the 90,000 Rums living in Turkey had to leave Turkey under tough conditions in 1964-65. Those difficult conditions continued until 2003. However, today these conditions are improving. Thanks to the recent decision regarding the property of minority groups, Turkey is compensating for the practice that forced many Rum to leave Turkey in 1964 and 1965. Previously Turkey did not deign to speak with us, which has changed a lot in the last 10 years. We are following this change with interest.”

    Uzunoğlu in the first paragraph talks about my solution to our minority problem. In my view Turkey needs to adopt some new policies in which she encourages all non-Muslims who emigrated from Turkey (Armenians, Greeks, Jews Assyrians and others) and their descendants to return to Turkey. These people could be Turkish citizens easily and they should be provided with some privileges to compensate for their losses in the past.

    What I am talking about is a huge policy change in Turkey. I believe Turkey will reach this point one day when it gains real self-confidence and become a full democracy. There is a long way going to this final destination.

    Anyway, today is the 56th anniversary of shameful Sept. 6-7 pogroms in İstanbul in which properties of non-Muslims were looted and they were being attacked by mobs. After these terrific events in 1955, thousands and thousands of non-Muslims left Turkey forever. Professor Uzunoğlu is one of these Greek descendents who migrated to Greece. I hope he will be resettled in Turkey soon and he will be followed by hundreds of thousand of others.

    ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
    [email protected]
  • Greeks in Istanbul Cry Tears of Joy for the Return of their Properties

    Greeks in Istanbul Cry Tears of Joy for the Return of their Properties

    Greeks in Istanbul welcomed Erdogan’s decision to return confiscated property to minorities, with tears of joy in their eyes.

    VakoufiaAs the representative of minority institutions under the General Directorate for Foundations and member of the Greek minority of Istanbul, Lakis Vingas, stated to Newsit; “yesterday was a historic day. Mr. Erdogan’s determination is one of a leader, as the issue was solved by a government decision and did not go through general assembly. This is evidence to Mr. Erdogan’s consistency in the progress of issues, faced by minorities here for many decades. We neither received a gift, nor compensation; we simply took back what belonged to us. This is justice and what we have been waiting for. We are now in the third phase of the return of minority properties and are very satisfied.

    From now on, we should be mindful not only for the return of property, but also for the proper management and future course of the entire property. For us, for example, the return of the Galata School is very important. In addition, a large property we own in the Kantyli community, some Monasteries and other properties and of course cemeteries”.

    Mr. Lakis Vingas represents the council for Armenian, Syrian – Chaldean and Greek foundations in Istanbul. As he stated himself, minorities in the past were afraid to even enter the threshold of the General Directorate, but now, thanks to the effort for harmonization with EU law, things are changing. Lastly, he added that, particular attention should be paid to the future of minority foundations in Turkey.

    via Greeks in Istanbul Cry Tears of Joy for the Return of their Properties | Greek Reporter Europe.