NON-MUSLIM GROUPS EXPECT GOVERNMENT TO ACT AFTER CODING SCANDAL
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 2 2013
2 August 2013 /E. BARIÅ~^ ALTINTAÅ~^, Ä°STANBUL
An official response to a query accidentally revealed that the Turkish
state has been numbering its non-Muslim citizens, but not a single
government official has made a statement concerning the issue.
Earlier this week, it became evident from an official response from
the Education Ministry to a query that non-Muslim minorities in Turkey
were monitored and filed based on their ethnicity. They were also
assigned numbers, in a practice that dates back to the establishment
of the republic.
According to a report by the Agos daily, since 1923 Armenians, Greeks
and Jews have been assigned code numbers in official correspondence
between government institutions. A letter sent by the Ä°stanbul
Directorate of National Education to its Å~^iÅ~_li branch indicates
that Armenian citizens are given the code number two.
This confidential categorization by the state is normally kept by
census bureaus and revealed only when there is an official request
from another government institution. According to this racial code
system, Greeks are given the number one and Jews the number three.
The Interior Ministry on Friday issued a response to Agos’ report,
admitting that the “ancestral codes” have been kept since the Ottoman
times and said they were periodically relayed to the Education
Ministry, indicating that these records are being actively used today.
The ministry defended that the codes were only used for “educational
purposes,” as Turkey’s three minority communities — Jews, Greeks
and Armenians — have the right to run their own schools as per the
Lausanne Treaty of 1923, a right denied to other minority groups such
as the Syriacs.
The response to the scandal has been immense, with community leaders
and intellectuals condemning the number. Despite the outrage,
however, not a single government member made a statement condemning
the oppressive numbering system. There were also reports on Friday
that there were other groups that were filed under numbers. Radikal
reported on Friday on its website that the Syriacs were numbered four,
while there was a fifth category for “Other.”
Years of discrimination
Rober KoptaÅ~_, an Agos journalist and a member of Turkey’s Armenian
community, said nobody could rule out the possibility that the “codes”
were used for other purposes than just assigning to the right minority
schools. He noted: “There is not a single non-Muslim public servant
in Turkey, or students in military or police academies, which means
that these codes can be used for other purposes.” He said the codes
are an appalling violation of equality. He also said he wondered if
there were other codes for individuals who are of different ethnic
backgrounds such as Kurds, Arabs and the Laz, or for other religious
communities such as the Alevis? “As people who demand equal citizenship
but have systematically been discriminated against, we always felt
that some kind of mechanism was in use, and now, for the first time,
we have seen it.”
KoptaÅ~_ told Today’s Zaman he hoped the painful discovery will also
spell the end to this atrocious tradition of secretly labeling ethnic
groups. “We should capture this moment and as journalists investigate
and find out completely what is behind it and how it worked. It
is a good thing this document came out, and there are now things
to be done both on the part of the government and the opposition,
and hopefully it will serve a cause.”
The journalist said the government’s silence is “unacceptable.” “We
expect an end to this, not only on paper but also in practice.” He
also said it now had to be completely revealed how the codes work.
Laki Vingas, a representative of the Greek Orthodox community and head
of the Minorities Foundation in Ä°stanbul, like KoptaÅ~_, said he
was not surprised: “This is not really surprising. These are things
we are used to.” However, he noted that they certainly did not know
that they were being number-coded. “Years ago some people would be
forced to drop out of Greek schools, and that would usually be because
they would have some Albanian blood, or some Yugoslavian blood or
something else, despite being members of the Orthodox faith. This
is not really a surprise for us.” In fact, Vingas’ revelation about
people having to leave the minority school system because of ancestral
backgrounds indicates that other groups than is previously believed
are being coded.
Government should act
But what will be done, will human rights groups, citizens or minority
group lawyers have to file lawsuits? “I am of the opinion that there is
nothing left for us as citizens to do, as the state has to guarantee
equal citizenship. The outrage, the backlash, has been very fast
here; the public is reacting, and this is an opportunity for us to
discuss these. I am of the opinion that a rapid result will ensue,”
Vingas told Today’s Zaman.
Professor Baskın Oran, an academic well known in the area of minority
research, was quoted in the Radikal daily on Friday as saying:
“This is the first time I have heard of this practice. This coding
was created to finish off Turkey’s non-Muslim communities.”
The secret categorization of minorities was revealed when a parent
asked an Armenian kindergarten for a document proving there was
no legal obstacle to the enrollment there of her child. When the
Å~^iÅ~_li branch of the directorate made enquiries with the census
bureau into the background of the family, it was seen that religious
minorities are given specific code numbers.
The family is currently waiting for a response from the Education
Ministry stating that they are of Armenian descent. The confusion
in the system stems from the fact that the mother is an Armenian who
converted to her family’s religion after being registered as a Muslim
at birth.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-322643-non-muslim-groups-expect-government-to-act-after-coding-scandal.html