Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 9 2011
`Hate crime legislation a must to combat hate crimes’
09 October 2011, Sunday / YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ?AN, Ä°STANBUL
A civil society activist who has been currently working on a draft law
to combat hate crimes has said that it is almost impossible to address
those crimes unless there is legislation.
`There is hate crime legislation in the United States and in European
Union countries. In Turkey, there are neither any detailed
investigations nor any hate crime legislation,’ said Cengiz AlÄ?an, who
heads the steering committee of the Association for Social Change.
The association is currently working on the draft law and getting
prepared to submit it to the political parties at the new Parliament.
`We hope the ruling party, which has a big mandate — 50 percent
support from voters as a result of the June 12 election — will take
an initiative to act on it,’ AlÄ?an said.
However, he added that there are other problems in Turkey when it
comes to hate crimes in addition to a lack of legislation.
`Hate crimes have deep roots in Turkey from state elements such as the
gendarmerie and police and the military,’ he said.
Answering our questions, he elaborated on the issue.
Could you first tell me how the Association for Social Change came about?
Following Hrant Dink’s murder in 2007, we decided to establish a
civilian initiative. We came together with a group of writers,
journalists and academics who decided that hate crimes had reached
dramatic dimensions in Turkey; these crimes were organized and they
had a dimension of racism. We formed a group of activists under the
name of `Dur De!’ [`Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism’]. We put out a
call to all people to come against racism and nationalism. At first we
were only about seven to ten people but we have grown. Now we have
33,000 followers on Facebook. We have 3,500 subscribers to our mailing
list; some of whom follow our bulletins and participate during our
meetings and protests. The Association for Social Change is an
organization that has professional staff. Both Dur De! and the
association have the same founders and support each other.
You said that some hate crimes in Turkey share characteristics and
there are indications that they are organized. Would you give examples
of that?
For example, there have been a number of murders of Christian priests.
Just prior to those murders, we would see slander campaigns in the
media regarding Christian missionary activities in Turkey. One of
those cases is the prominent Malatya Zirve Publishing House murders
[of 2007 when three people who sold Christian literature were brutally
killed]. Prior to the murders, both in the local and national media,
there was a serious slander campaign about Christian missionaries in
Turkey. This has been publically discussed in detail by Orhan Kemal
Cengiz, one of the lawyers for the victims’ families. When he first
took the case, long before the name of Ergenekon [a clandestine
criminal network accused of working to topple the government] was
spelled out, he told us that he had said, `This seems to be the work
of Turkish Gladio.’ That conviction was based on various facts: The
2006 murder of Father Santoro in Trabzon, then the murder of Hrant
Dink and two months later the Zirve murders seemed to have been
connected. As the investigation unfolded serious suspicions that
secret networks nested within the Turkish gendarmerie and
ultranationalists were linked to those murders.
Common motives of ultra-nationalism and hatred based on ethnicity or religion
As we also follow the cases, we see that the hit men seem to have
common motives: ultra-nationalism and hatred based on ethnicity or
religion.
Definitely, we know from court documents that Ogün Samast, Dink’s
murderer, did not even know Dink’s name properly. He just knew that he
was an Armenian. But it was absurd that a 17-year-old would come all
the way from Trabzon to Ä°stanbul to kill somebody that he did not know
much about. There was already enmity in society against Armenians and
since the first 2005 Armenian conference in Turkey — which sparked
great controversy because it included the Armenian side of arguments
related to the issue of genocide — this enmity was pumped up and then
Dink was murdered. Regarding the Father Santoro murder, he was
threatened previously by some people who are now defendants in the
Dink murder case. Those people had beaten him, almost fatally, even
prior to his murder. There are even more of those human rights
violations in that regard involving even more murders but the Dink
murder was a breaking point.
Why is that?
Because anything related to the Armenian issue is a topic that has
appropriate grounds to incite hatred in Turkey.
What does your work on the project `Hate Crimes in National Press: 10
Years, 10 Examples’ tell us?
Starting from 2008, we conducted a retrospective media scan involving
20 national newspapers that made up 80 percent of newspaper
circulation in the country. We came up with 30,000 examples of news
that can be categorized as inciting hatred. Then we made an initial
shortlist of 5,000 news pieces and then [shortlisted this to] 200. For
our publication, we used 10 examples for the book. We found hate
speech in the media regarding ethnic origin and race, nationality,
sexual identity and sexual orientation, religion and belief, political
tendencies, ownership, physical disabilities, educational status and
societal status. The most dramatic result was that out of 5,000 news
pieces, 21 percent could be categorized as hate speech and 79 percent
as hate crimes. Out of that 79 percent of hate crimes, 47 percent were
based on ethnicity. The media mostly used ethnicity in inciting
hatred.
I remember a similar and more recent study by the Hrant Dink
Foundation that said Kurds and Armenians were the most targeted groups
in the press in this regard, and that Armenians were among the most
targeted group according to `animosity,’ which is a hate speech
category. Greeks, Christians in general and Jews were also often the
subjects of news stories or columns that contained hate speech.
Hate crimes and hate speeches are distinct. But there is no doubt that
they are linked in practice. Hate speech creates the risk of hate
crime.
Hate crimes can be revealed with serious, extensive investigations
What makes a crime a hate crime?
According to international norms, there must first be a criminal
offense which is committed, and that the crime was committed with a
biased motive. It is this biased motive, this prejudice, that
distinguishes hate crimes from ordinary crimes. The crime might be
damage to property, murder, assault, etc. Just as with hate speech,
the individuals or groups who are the target of hate crimes share some
characteristic — such as like their ethnicity, national identity,
religious beliefs and practices. There needs to be serious and
extensive investigations into those crimes in order to prove that
there was a prejudice that led to the crime. There have been some
proven cases in the United States following Sept. 11 that some crimes
were motivated by prejudices against Muslims living in the country.
There is hate crime legislation in the United States and in European
Union countries. In Turkey, there are neither any detailed
investigations nor hate crime legislation.
Why do you think there aren’t any detailed investigations into such
crimes in Turkey, is it because of lack of legislation?
Lack of legislation is an important factor, but as I mentioned before,
hate crimes have deep reaching roots in Turkey from state elements,
like the gendarmerie, the police and the military. Lawyers for
victims’ families from the Zirve murder case found out that the Zirve
murders were committed in Malatya while [former 1st Army Commander
Gen.] HurÅ?it Tolon [who is now a suspect in the Ergenekon case] was
giving anti-missionary briefings and speeches in the same city. There
is also the example of a vigilante campaign in Selendi, Manisa where
about 70 Roma were forced to leave last year. There are so many things
to do in Turkey regarding hate speech and hate crimes but we first
need a legislation to define what constitutes a hate crime.
Is there willingness in the Turkish Parliament to take steps in that regard?
I can say that the current government is more open to such initiatives
but currently there is no work on hate crime legislation in the
Parliament. Although there have been some unprecedented court cases in
which Articles 215 and 216 of the Turkish Penal Code [TCK] — relating
to `inciting hatred’ and the `praising an act of crime’ — were
properly used. However, there is a need for a narrowed down and clear
approach to the issue of hate crimes with new hate crime legislation.
This is a topic which concerns a wide segment of the society.
`Another example is the refusal to rent apartments to Kurds’
Could you give examples as to how it does so?
Not all attitudes of hate result in hate crimes and lead to murder.
There might be some criminal offenses which can be considered hate
crimes. For example, a person with a physical disability desires to
rent an apartment but needs the property owner to have an appropriate
ramp built in order to provide easy access to the building. If the
owner refuses to rent the apartment to that person, the owner’s
motives might be in question. Another example is the refusal to rent
apartments to Kurds. Both rejections deserve an investigation of
motives and prejudices behind them.
What stage are you at in preparing a hate crime draft law?
We have been in consultation with experts from the OSCE [Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe] and ADL [Anti-Defamation
League]. We have examined many cases in that regard. Turkish lawyers
are currently working on the text of the legislation and we hope to
complete it by the end of the year. Last year there were two
suggestions made to Parliament. One deputy asked for an expansion of
Article 216 and another deputy said that the murder of Hrant Dink was
a hate crime and there should be hate crime legislation in Turkey.
There are no other suggestions or bills in the Parliament regarding
hate crimes. IHOP [Human Rights Joint Platform, based in Ankara]
worked on a draft law and submitted it to Parliament but it was an
anti-discrimination bill.
What is the difference between approaches by the United States and
European countries to hate speech?
Americans have a broad definition regarding freedom of speech and they
are not pro-restriction. In Europe, there are serious restrictions to
freedom of speech. Looking at the situation in Turkey, the media has a
big role in that regard. There needs to be stricter monitoring in
regards to what the media does to contribute to hate speech and hate
crimes. One of the regulations of RTÃ`K [Radio and Television Supreme
Council] says that there should be no broadcasts inciting hatred among
people. However, this rule is not enforced. Soon, we will start to
send out regular and frequent bulletins showing bad examples in the
media. We know that there are a lot of people in the Turkish media who
are sensitive about the issue so we expect their support. We also have
a section on our website for `Racist of the Month.’ Unfortunately,
most of the time it is writers from the media who are selected for
this list.
What is the situation in terms of hate speech in the Turkish media
since the murder of Hrant Dink?
During this period hate language is no longer used outright in
headlines but it does appear in captions and columns.
——————————————————————————–
`We hope the ruling party will take the initiative in pushing hate
crime legislation’
What are you going to do during your campaign for the acceptance of
such a draft bill in Parliament?
We will meet with representatives from each political party. We hope
the ruling party, which has a big mandate — 50 percent support from
voters as a result of the June 12 general elections — will take the
initiative to act on it.
Why are the victims of hate crimes silent?
They usually are silent not only in Turkey but all over the world.
They are usually afraid of being further stigmatized if they speak up.
They prefer to stay in hiding. When lawyers went to Selendi to talk
with the victims about what happened, they had a hard time finding
people who would speak about the events. We have launched a project in
that regard.
What is it?
We are trying to form a coalition or platform for the victims of hate
crimes and those who work on the issue of hate crimes. There are some
special groups working on the issue, for example, LGBT [lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender] groups, or some groups with Islamic
sensitivities. We are holding meetings across the country in the last
two years in order to bring more organizations together to work on the
hate crime legislation. We have to work together because all of us
suffer from discrimination. We have another Internet site Nefretme.org
[Do not hate] ` where organizations that work on human rights,
discrimination and hate crimes can come together. We will have a
festival with those groups on Nov. 19-20.
Any other projects?
We will have a monitoring team comprised of jurists to investigate
hate crimes where they happen. They will have an investigation of the
issue and provide legal support for the victims of hate crimes. We
also plan to have a hotline for victims of hate crimes. We already
receive calls from people. We found out that a Kurdish Armenian
citizen from Turkey was subjected to hate crime at a government office
but despite his efforts to seek justice, he was not able to obtain it.
Now his case is at the European Court of Human Rights. If the Turkish
state has been found guilty in that case, we will pay for dues as a
nation. We would like to provide support services for victims of such
crimes. Our goal first and foremost is to introduce hate crimes
legislation. Eventually, we would like to map out the situation of
hate crimes in Turkey.
Cengiz AlÄ?an
Formerly an English teacher, Cengiz AlÄ?an is now translating books and
heads the steering committee of the Association for Social Change,
which was established in February 2009. He has been active in civil
society. In 2002, he was one of the founders of the `SavaÅ?a Hayır
Koalisyonu’ (`No to War Coalition’ now known as `Global Peace and
Justice Coalition’) which was established against the war in Iraq.