Alliance of Needs-Improvement

Shortly after the Spanish President, Zapatero, called for an Alliance of Civilizations, which is an idea that different communities can contribute to coexist beyond the barriers of cultures, religions and languages. Mr. Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, jumped to the opportunity of cosponsoring that programme. However it seems the people who want that project to succeed forgot an important issue that Turkey needs to resolve, an issue that Turkey needs to understand due to its importance: improving minority rights. So far the Turkish government claims there are only three minorities those stated in the Lausanne Treaty, despite the treaty only describing them as non-Moslems rather than narrowing down to individual nationalities: Armenians, Greeks and Jews. Yet Turkey is a land full of ethnicities and cultures: Kurds, Alevis, Zaza, Laz, Assyrians, Balkans, Romani, Circassians, Arabs, etc.etc.

The two main problems are that there is no recognition or protection. Although ethnic Armenians may set up schools, they have numerous restrictions. At schools, Armenians are described as murderers and traitors during World War I and not allow the right to recognize the Turkish brutality on Armenians during that period. As with ethnic Armenians, ethnic Greeks may also set up schools but also with restrictions, and the Greek language is mocked in text books. The Assyrian community has no recognition of their language or culture which hinders their further education since the Turkish Ministry of Education not recognizing Syriac schools, a similar situation with the Laz community. Alevis pay the religious taxes that go to build Sunni mosques and pay for Sunni imams but have no public funds to build their cemevis. Although non-Moslems are not required to take Islam as their religion class, the only Moslem religion taught in public schools is Sunni Islam. The government has still not considered the Alevi Community’s request to turn the Madimak Hotel in Sivas as a Remembrance Museum. The Jewish community has been offended when government authorises demonstrations against Israel that demonise Jews or a demonstration of school teachers admiring Adolf Hitler. Text books, generalizations have been made to ridicule Romani, Armenians and Greeks, as well as highlighting that the Turkish nationality and Islam are better than any other nationality or religion. The Kurdish community still sees rights as a priority. According to Hurriyet Newspaper, ethnic Kurds want more rights rather than more money. Intimidation from Turkification policies and social discrimination affect all minorities in Turkey. Despite that Turkish laws guarantee that all citizens will be treated equally, there are no laws protecting minorities. These examples are just a small fraction of the situation today.

Only now has the current government been bringing this issue to light, for example the support of the Kurdish Initiative or the recognition of the Istanbul Pogrom against ethnic Armenians and Greeks as a fascist act, opening a Kurdish TV channel and Kurdish language being taught in schools in some provinces. However these improvements do not reach the obligations of what the cosponsor of the Alliance of Civilizations must address to other nations. How can the Cosponsor of the Alliance of Civilizations set an example to other nations of how different cultures may coexist when it is carrying out policies that only give guarantees to one ethnicity and one religion? What Turkey must do is provide safety to its minorities and guarantee that they may also take part in society, politics, education and any other part of the state. By carrying out such programme would prove that a peaceful coexistence is possible.