GORDON PAYS VISIT TO HALKI SEMINARY


VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL-HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon yesterday visited Istanbul’s Halki Seminary, of which re-opening has long been debated after a 4-day long official visit he made to Greece. “Reopening of the Halki seminary will positively effect Turkey in terms of freedom of religion and democracy,” Gordon said during his visit to the seminary.

Gordon paid a short visit to Fener Greek Patriarchate first, and then headed to Heybeliada Halki seminary. Gordon stated that the U.S. was closely following the developments about the Halki seminary issue. “Reopening of the Halki seminary will positively effect Turkey in terms of freedom of religion and democracy,” Gordon said. After the meeting, Gordon answered questions of the press. He commented on the seminary building, stating that he wandered in the building and liked it so much. He also underlined that he personally followed the developments about the issue. In the meeting, which was closed to the press, a great confidentiality was kept while choosing photographers and journalists. The seminary, which was the main center of Orthodox Greek theological was closed in 1971.

Syriacs make their mark in historic meet with Gül


ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The details regarding a recent meeting in which Turkish President Abdullah Gül hosted the leaders of eight of Turkey’s minority foundations on July 27 in Istanbul have been revealed. Accordingly, the three participant Syriac foundations made their mark at the meeting, especially regarding the ongoing conflict regarding the Mor Gabriel (Deyrulumur) Monastery case and the relocation of the Syriac Church’s patriarchate from Beirut to Turkey.

During the meeting, which was planned to be 45 minutes but took about 1.5 hours, Gül paid great attention to the problems communicated but didn’t make any remarks about any problem, the Hürriyet Daily News has learned.

The Syriac foundations also demanded the return of their historical patriarchate building in Mardin, which has been turned into a museum.

In previous months, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held a series of negotiations with Syriacs on the topic and proposed bringing Beirut’s Catholic and Damascus’ Syriac Kadim patriarchates to Turkey.

Besides the patriarchate issue, Syriac’s Kadim Church foundation put the historical Mor Gabriel Monastery in Mardin on the agenda, which has been the subject of a conflict between Turkey and the Mor Gabriel Foundation.

Other minority leaders also brought education problems in minority schools and expectations regarding citizenship rights to the table.

Foundations Law

Yedikule Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital Foundation President Bedros Şirinoğlu also joined the meeting to represent Armenian foundations.

“We have already been speaking about our problems generally with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç. So, instead of repeating our problems to the president, we wanted to express our regards for his support of the Minority Foundations Law,” he said.

Laki Vingas, a council member of the Foundations Directorate General and the organizer of the meeting, told the Daily News the meeting had been held under very good conditions, the leaders of minorities expressed their gratitude for the Foundations Law and return of properties and they spoke about education problems.

In addition to Şirinoğlu and Vingas, Syriac Catholic leader Zeki Paşademir, Armenian Catholic Foundation leader Bernard Sarıbay, Syriac Kadim Foundation representative Sait Susin, Greek Foundation representative Andon Parisyoanos, Jewish Community representative Sami Herman and Bulgarian community representative Vasil Liyaze attended the meeting.

July/30/2012

US official to visit Halki Seminary


ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

US official Philip Gordon is expected to visit Halki Seminary on July 30.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon will come to Turkey to visit Heybeliada’s Halki Seminary.

Archpriest and Metropolitan of Bursa Elpidophoros Lambriniadis confirmed that Gordon will visit Halki Seminary on July 30, speaking to Hürriyet Daily News. Metropolitan Lambriniadis said the proposal for the visit reached the Patriarchate via the U.S. Embassy. The meeting will begin at 2:30 p.m., and it has not yet been determined whether it will be open to the press.

After paying a 4-day official visit to Greece, Gordon will come directly to Istanbul. On Monday, Gordon is expected to visit Halki Seminary after going to the Fener Greek Patriarchate. Gordon will also attend an iftar dinner in Üsküdar. On his visit to Turkey in 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama underlined the importance of reopening Halki Seminary in a historic speech at Turkey’s Parliament. Despite Obama’s emphasis on the topic, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s more recent remark that “Halki Seminary should be opened, but also a mosque should be opened in Athens,” caused confusion and worry at the Fener Greek Patriarchate.

July/28/2012

President Gül meets with minority groups

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News



President Gül hosts leaders of Turkey’s minority foundations in Istanbul. The visit bears significance since the leaders have been invited together for the first time

An Alevi federation criticizes a fast-breaking dinner that brings together President Gül and another Alevi group for misrepresenting the nation’s Alevi community. AA photo

Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

The leaders of Turkey’s eight minority foundations have been hosted for the first time at the presidential summer compound in the history of the Turkish Republic. The visit was significant, as it represented the first time the leaders of minority communities together have been hosted at the presidential summer compound in the history of the Turkish Republic.



The strongest cases at the meeting would belong to three Syriac foundations, according to information Hürriyet Daily News gathered from Syriac Catholic Foundation head Zeki Başdemir and Midyat Syriac Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation head Kuryakos Ergün before the meeting.



The Catholic Syriac group planned to put forward its readiness to relocate the Church’s Patriarchate in Beirut to Turkey, and demand the return of their historical Patriarchate building in Mardin, which has been turned into a museum. In previous months, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held a series of negotiations with Syriacs on the topic, and proposed bringing the Lebanonn and Damascus Patriarchates to Turkey.

Reactions

Ergün said his foundation would express its reaction to a Court of Appeals decision describing the monastery as an “invader” and demand support from Gül.

In addition to Ergün and Başdemir, Armenian Surp Pırgiç Foundation Hospital head Bedros Şirinoğlu, Armenian Catholic Foundation leader Bernard Sarıbay, Syriac Orthodox Foundations representative Sait Susin, Greek Foundation representative Andon Parisyanos, Jewish community representative Sami Herman and Bulgarian community representative Vasil Liyaze attended the meeting, which was organized through the efforts of Vingas.

While the Syriacs planned to discuss their problems at the meeting, the Armenian and Greek communities (except the Catholic Armenian Foundation) said they would thank President Gül for his support of the Foundations Law, which went into force last year. The Bulgarian and Jewish communities avoided making any statement. There was a crisis just before the meeting when it was revealed that a request from the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Bible Church to attend the meeting and discuss the problems of Protestants living in Turkey had been refused. Chaldean Catholics, on the other hand, did not want to attend the meeting, although they were invited. Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Bible Church representative Cem Ercin expressed the church’s reaction to the refusal. “They call us ‘missionaries’; they won’t give us a church building when we request it, they shut us in apartments and then insult our churches because they are in apartment buildings; this is a great contradiction,” Ercin said.

Speaking to the Daily News, Vingas said he had paid a visit to the president early in the summer to facilitate this meeting. “We want to express the results we have experienced from the Foundations Law. Also we will express our expectations regarding the perception of citizenship one more time before the preparation of the new constitution,” Vingas said.

July/28/2012

Christians in Middle East call for unity


ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

A group of Syriac, Chaldean and Assyrian intellectuals have published a declaration calling on Christians to unite after the latest developments in Syria. Some say they need to protect themselves in a federal structure

A group of intellectuals consisting of Syriacs, Chaldeans and Assyrians outside of Syria have issued a declaration calling on Christians to unite, saying that if an Islamist government came to power after the anticipated fall of President Bashar al-Assad it would be a disaster for all Christians in the region.

“We have to look after and protect ourselves in an autonomous region, the need for a federal structure is deeply felt,” Brussels-based Syriac TV channel Suryoyo’s political analyst Adnan Challma, who is leading the group, said.

Syriac, Chaldean and Assyrian intellectuals, who consider Christian communities to be under threat after the latest developments in Syria, published a declaration in Turkish, Syriac, English, German and French. The declaration started being shared with leading world media outlets on the night of July 25.

It is signed by Syriac, Chaldean and Assyrian intellectuals from all over the world, mostly from the U.S., Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Declaration

In the declaration, the group indicates that it does not support Syria’s Baathist regime, as it deprives the Syriac, Chaldean and Assyrian communities of their legal rights. However, “the opposition to the Baath dictatorship in Syria, which was democratic at the beginning, has acquired an Islamist tendency with foreign support,” the intellectuals said.

The declaration accuses Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia of giving “armed and financial support” to the Islamist movement in Syria.

“A government formed by the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamists, pro-al-Qaeda figures and Salafists, would be a disaster for our people in Syria and all the Christians in the Middle East. Many times massacres have been committed against our people with cries of ‘Allahu akbar’ and ‘Muhammed Salâvat,’ throughout our long and tragic history,” the declaration read.

The declaration leaves the conflicts between Syriacs, Chaldeans and Asyrrians aside and invites them to form a union with all the Christians in Syria and the region against “the impending disasters.” It addresses political parties and organizations to form this union.

“As the oldest Christian community in the Middle East, we have experienced such threatening disasters many times before. Therefore it is impossible for us to support the impending disaster coming with slogans such as ‘Allahu akbar,’ ‘call to jihad,’ or ‘death to unbelievers,’ in İdlib, Homs and Deyrizor,” the declaration read. The declaration also speaks out against attempts to realize “armed invasions and [the creation of] buffer zones.”

Speaking in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News Challma said he expected all Christian intellectuals in the world to support the call for union. A cooperative policy for Christians in Syria must immediately be put into practice, he said, otherwise Christians there may face a great disaster.

“Why don’t Christians found a country in the Middle East? We have to look after and protect ourselves in an autonomous region; the need for a federated structure is deeply felt,” he said.

July/27/2012

Lack of instructors hampers efforts for teaching Circassian


ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

The Higher Education Board (YÖK) and the Education Ministry have responded positively to demands from Turkey’s 5.5 million Circassians for education in their native language.

Following the first steps taken by Mardin Artuklu University to offer Kurdish-language education in 2011, YÖK has now permitted Erciyes, Sakarya and Düzce Universities to open Circassian professorships. Because the number of instructors is not sufficient yet,Circassian education cannot begin this year.

Granting permission is not enough; the state also has to find instructors, Caucasian Associations Federation head Necip Kadıoğlu said, speaking to Hürriyet Daily News.

Lack of instructors

Erciyes University will not offer Circassian education next term for lack of instructors, said Üstün Tuncer of the university’s Press and Public Relations department.

Also, because there is no instructor available, Düzce University cannot start its Circassian program, even though YÖK has approved it, said Student Affairs Department head Tahir Güney.

The department of Caucasian Languages in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences was recently opened, and preparations are underway to start classes next year, Tahir said. When asked whether instructors could not be brought from Circassia, Güney said it was not possible without the approval of YÖK.

“Since there are already many foreign instructors working in Turkey, they cannot prevent [us from] bringing instructors from our homeland. We cannot tolerate that,” Kadıoğlu said. “The state charged

Mardin Artuklu University for Kurdish education. That means concrete steps can also be taken about Circassian if they wish.”

Negotiations with the Board of Education and Discipline are ongoing and coming to an end, and the federation demanded that class minimums for native language education be abolished, Kadıoğlu said.

A 10-person minimum was put forward for native-language education in primary and middle schools. According to the condition, there must be at least 10 students in a class.

“We are insistently emphasizing that education in one’s native language should start from preschool. Also the condition of 10 students for optional native-language education is not very reasonable,” Kadıoğlu said. The federation also expects state support for textbooks, he said, adding that they will demand their rights until the end.

Once education begins to be offered in Circassian, the instructor problem will be solved within a few years, Kadıoğlu said.

July/26/2012

Tutor tells of minority schools

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr


Keşmer, a former ‘Turkish vice principal’ and teacher at minority schools, says he told his experiences showing the ‘intensive control mechanism’ in these schools in a book named ‘A bag of Istanbul soil’

Emin Keşmer, who taught Turkish language and worked as a vice principal at Armenian and Greek minority schools for fifteen years, explains the difficulties and “otherization” faced at minority schools in his book, “Bir Poşet İstanbul Toprağı” (A bag of Istanbul soil).

Keşmer wrote the book after retiring and it has recently been published by the Siyah-Beyaz Publishing House. Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News about the book, he said he had started working as a teacher in 1972, and that the years when he taught at minority schools between 1991 and 2006, became a turning point for him. Keşmer said he had had some prejudices against the Armenian and Greek communities before getting to know them, when he taught the Turkish language at the historical Dadyan Armenian School in Bakırköy between 1991 and 1998 and was appointed to Fener Greek School in Balat, also known as the “Kırmızı Mektep” (Red School) as a vice principal. He continued his job at the latter until he retired in 2006.

“During the first days I taught at Dadyan, a colleague of mine, teaching Turkish language and literature, told me he was disturbed by the children’s speaking Armenian with each other. At that moment, I really understood what kind of duty my job required,” Keşmer said.

“It seems as if there is no monitoring mechanism. But in fact, there is intensive monitoring and no confidence is felt toward ‘others.’ For example, if Turkey wins a national match, the children are monitored [to see] if they are happy or not about the result. I observed that the children were hurt and afraid, above all,” Keşmer said.

According to Keşmer, a different period started in his professional life after he was appointed to the Fener Greek High School as a Turkish vice principal. “I have never been the trumpet of the state, so my colleagues filed several complaint petitions against me to the national Education Ministry, as I did not fulfill my ‘monitoring’ duties,” he said.

National anthem monitored

According to Keşmer, people always approached Greek schools with curiosity and regarded them as “other.” “For example, whether national holidays were celebrated with enthusiasm at the Greek school was examined. Also, how they sang the Turkish national anthem was monitored. There were only 52 students, after all. How could they sound [enthusiastic] even if they shouted?”

Along with Greek and Armenian principals, Turkish vice principals are appointed to minority schools for supervision reasons. “Appointing Turkish vice principals must stop,” Keşmer said. “The citizen and the state must reciprocally trust each other; there is no need for paranoia.” “Many people migrating from this land take a piece of soil from their birthplace to be put on their graves after their death. So [with the book’s name], I would like to emphasize both these experiences and homesickness,” Keşmer said. k HDN

July/25/2012

Patriarchate eyes charter

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr


The Fener Greek Patriarchate seeks legal guarantees in the new constitution to prevent the threat of Halki Seminary being closed again, in case a date given for its opening as expected until the end of the year

The Fener Greek Patriarchate demands legal guarantees in the new constitution for the protection of Halki Seminary, after a date was given for its expected reopening by the end of the year, a spokesman for the Patriarchate has said.

A draft of the new constitution draft will be completed by December and will pass through Parliament in the spring, Dositheos Anagnostopoulos, a Patriarchate spokesman, said. “If it is decided that the Halki seminary will be reopened, we will demand an article in the new constitution to prevent the threat of [the seminary’s] being closed again, so that similar problems won’t occur again,” Anagnostopoulos said. “We want a specified date for the reopening of the seminary by the end of the year. If there is no progress, we will initiate a legal process at the end of the year, as our Patriarch had said before. If we cannot solve the problem with the national laws in Turkey, we will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR], although we don’t want to do that. We [may not] have another choice, though.”

Görmez, Clinton resented, CHP praised

The fact that the head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs brought up the issue of the needs of the Turkish minority in Greece without using the word “reciprocity,” during his recent historic visit to the Fener Greek Patriarchate, also makes the Patriarchate uneasy, its spokesman said.

The visit was significant because it was the first time a head of the directorate had officially visited the Patriarchate in Istanbul. During the meeting on July 6, Directorate of Religious Affairs head Prof. Mehmet Görmez gave his full support to the issue of reopening Halki Seminary on Istanbul’s Heybeliada Island, while Patriarch Bartholomew said the Patriarchate is ready to open the school. Görmez said the fact that a religious community in Turkey currently needs to recruit and train their religious staff in another country was not appropriate. Basic rights and freedoms should be the object of the principle of “reciprocity,” Görmez said. “I do not find it suitable for one major country to tell another country ‘I will give as much rights to communities under my rule as you give to the Muslims in your country,’” Görmez said.

However, he also said he had received many faxed letters from Turks in Western Thrace and he and Patriarch Bartholeow talked about the building of a mosque in Athens, Greece. Görmez did not articulate the word “reciprocity” during the return visit he made to the Patriarchate, but issued some statements implying reciprocity, Anagnostopoulos said. The necessity of opening Halki Seminary, the problem of opening a mosque in Athens, and the conditions of Turks living in Western Thrace were emphasized, Anagnostopoulos said.

“We want to underline the point that we only demand the return of our rights that were taken from us 41 years ago,” Anagnostopoulos said, adding that the Turkish government has made demands as though the Patriarchate bore the title of “ecumenical,” even though the Turkish state does not accept the ecumenical title of the Patriarchate. “Our patriarch is offended by these words. If the Patriarch sends a fax to Athens, will they immediately open the mosque? No Patriarchate has the right to interfere with a country’s internal affairs. We cannot give orders to the Greek Church. Ecumenism is a moral status, but we have difficulties understanding this,” Anagnostopoulos said.

Speaking of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remark that “Halki seminary should be opened, but also a mosque should be opened in Athens,” Anagnostopoulos said “[that] was an unfortunate and unexpected statement. We want to assume that the information was transferred to the other side of the Atlantic incorrectly.” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s support for the reopening of Halki seminary is quite important, Anagnostopoulos said. “In the period of the previous CHP leader, our Patriarch asked to meet with him in Ankara, and an appointment was given, but then the meeting was found to be unnecessary. So the CHP’s current attitude is notable,” Anagnostopoulos said.

July/23/2012

Kurdish teaching department draws great interest


ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

The Kurdish teaching undergraduate program opened at Mardin Artuklu University has drawn great interest since its opening, with 1100 people having applied to the 500-person program. The university administration expects that the number of applicants will increase to 2000 by the end of July.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, vice rector and head of the Living Languages Institution Prof. Kadri Yıldırım said they were planning to increase the capacity to 1000 people, but that a Higher Education Board decision was awaited on that matter.

There are various reasons for the department to have attracted such interest, Yıldırım said, and one of the main reasons is the desire to receive education in one’s native language. “Furthermore, one of the other reasons is the belief that this language will be effective in the marketplace. The descendants of a generation once fined for speaking Kurdish will now receive a salary because they can speak Kurdish. This is a historical, ironic paradox,” Yıldırım said.

According to Yıldırım, returning language rights would be a great step for a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem.

“I think one of the aims of universities is to make democratic and academic contributions to the normalization of the situation and to solving the country’s problems,” Yıldırım said, adding that the Kurdish language and identity were victims of the republican period mentality in favor of homogenization.

“Kurds have insisted on changing this mentality, and within the last eight to ten years the ruling power in government understood the seriousness of the situation and took important steps toward bringing the Kurdish language to an official status. Optional Kurdish lessons could be regarded as a result of these initiatives,” Yıldırım said.

He also announced the news that a doctorate degree would be opened in the Kurdish department of the university within this year. “As the Kurdish language department, we would like to emphasize that we have the capacity to train 1000 Kurdish language teachers each year and to provide course materials for each class,” Yıldırım said.

“If the capacity is increased to 1000 people, half of them will have daytime education, while the other half will have evening education. The potential of our academic staff and material conditions requires this method. We don’t have any problem in our undergraduate and graduate degrees, as our professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and instructors coming from Turkey and abroad are currently sufficient. We will reinforce our staff with additional personnel this year. We need a field professor for our graduate program, and we will find one soon,” Yıldırım said.

“Along with our academic staff, we are going to work in coordination with a number academics majoring in Kurdology abroad who want to work with us voluntarily. For example, world-renowned Zaza academic Mehmet Tayfun, also known as Malmîsanij, is interested in this,” he said.

“We are considering the academic mentality and trying to be objective while taking a new step.

Therefore, we never intend to be a follower or a locomotive of a certain segment of society,” Yıldırım said, replying to a question on whether the state authority played a role in the university’s Kurdish department.

July/20/2012

Syria’s Armenians escape from conflict to Armenia


ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News



Many Syrian Armenians flee from conflict to Armenia, where locals and the government are trying their best to host them despite recent economic difficulties

Syrians are seen at a camp near the border. Turkey is hosting over 42,000 Syrians. Armenians fleeing from Syria refrain from coming to Turkey or Lebanon, says lawyer.

Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

The longstanding conflict in Syria has affected the country’s Christian population causing many Armenians to flee violence in the country and a group to be formed in Armenia to protect migrants arriving there.



Armenians fleeing Syria often migrate to Armenia first but later head to another country due to a lack of job opportunities in the country, according to locals. An initiative has been started in Armenia to assist Armenians emigrating from Syria. It is not known how many people fall into this category as no official statement on the issue has been released.



An office has been established to house the Armenian initiative, which includes lawyers who guide emigrants through various legal procedures and help to protect their rights. Lawyer Lyudvig Tavtyan is one of the founders of the group “Cross-border Protection of Migrants’ Human Rights,” which was established by Armenia’s Forensic Experts and Jurists Association. The group has negotiated with Armenia’s Diaspora Minister Hranuyş Hagopyan, and informed him about the new initiative and its work, Tavtyan told the Hürriyet Daily News.



“We have limited opportunities, so we have asked the minister to announce the formation of the initiative and to give support to emigrants,” Tavtyan said. He underlined that migration from Syria to Armenia has recently increased, but that the number of emigrants is not clear yet as the Armenian Foreign Ministry has not released an official number. According to information from migrants coming from Syria, hundreds of Syrian Armenians have come to Armenia within the last three months, however, it is difficult to estimate a precise number, Tavtyan said.



Some of the emigrants have come to live with relatives in Armenia, while some are supported by the Armenian Red Cross, Tavtyan said. It is also difficult to determine how many of the incoming migrants from Syria plan to settle in the country long-term. “It is very hard to give a clear answer, because some of the Syrians coming to Armenia plan to return to Syria after the conflict, while others plan to migrate to another country. Consequently, giving a precise answer is very difficult,” Tavtyan said.



Turkey and Lebanon are also hosting many Syrian refugees fleeing violence, but Armenians do not come to Turkey as it denies that events in 1915 constituted a “genocide.” Many Armenians migrated to Syria in 1915, Tavtyan said, adding that Armenians also do not migrate to Lebanon as they wish to leave the Middle East because of the many ongoing conflicts occurring there. Armenians generally prefer to migrate to countries where they have relatives and wish to come to Europe of the United States, Tavtyan said.



Armenia is not prepared to welcome a large-scale migration due to effects of global economic crisis currently being felt in the country, Tavtyan said. However, the Armenian government is doing its best to support immigrants from Syria and individuals have also opened their homes to Syrian Armenians, he said.



Before the migration began, the number of Armenians in Syria was estimated to be about 100,000. A great majority of Syrian Armenians are concerned about the collapse of the current regime in Syria due to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s moderate policies toward the Christian population. They are also concerned that they will not be able to return to their country.



Many people must now reach Armenia via land transportation, because there are no vacant seats available on Armenian Airlines flights until September. Tickets on these flights cost $650, which is difficult for many families to afford, Tavtyan said.

July/18/2012

Red Crescent sends aid to Turkey’s minorities


Turkish Red Crescent’s (Kızılay) aid material will be sent to those in need through the Agia Triada Greek Orthodox church in Istanbul’s Taksim district.
Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) provided five tons of aid material to the Agia Triada Greek Orthodox church in Taksim and the Syriac Metropolitan Center in Tarlabaşı under special permission from Fener Greek Patriarchate yesterday.

“Regardless of race, religion, and language; we embrace all the people. We are not interested in politics,” Marmara Regional disaster manager Taşkın Hoşver told the Hürriyet Daily News just before the aid’s distribution.

The Turkish Red Crescent has been providing aid to minority communities in line with their needs for years without the public’s knowledge, Hoşver said. “We meet the leaders of the minority communities and gather information about their needs. Then we provide aid in line with their needs,” Hoşver said.

“Turkey is experiencing a new opening process. So we accelerated the [distribution of] aid under the thought that ‘teardrops have no color,’” Avedis Hilkat, the Turkish Red Crescent chairman’s consultant in charge of the coordination with minority communities said.

Aid is distributed according to the population rates of communities, Hilkat said. Aid from the Red Crescent to the Fener Greek Patriarchate, Turkey’s Armenians Patriarchate, and the Syriac Metropolitan Center could meet their needs for eight months, Hilkat said. In the upcoming days, a certain amount of aid materials will be submitted to the Chief Rabbinate of Turkey.

July/13/2012

All eyes turn to Silivri as KCK trial begins today


ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News - VERCIHAN ZIFLIOĞLU

Police took safety measures around Silivri Prison in case of possible protests. Two troops of commandos were sent to Silivri according to the reports. 

The trial of 193 defendants including prominent intellectuals as part of Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) inquiry begins today in Istanbul. The trial attracts Turkey’s and the international community’s attention to Istanbul’s Silivri district where a major court will also be the base for nongovernmental organizations and leading writers’ unions such as PEN and IPA as observers.

The case was filed against 193 defendants, 132 of whom were arrested. The numerous detentions of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) members and jailing of human rights activist and publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, his son Cihan Deniz Zarakolu and academic Büşra Ersanlı have drawn remarkable domestic and international reactions.

Ragıp Zarakolu’s case was brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for a violation of the right to fair trial and the “long-term period of detention.” Zarakolu was released by the court pending a trial on April 10. The indictment of the Istanbul chief prosecutor with special authority charges Professor Büşra Ersanlı with being a leader of and publisher Ragıp Zarakolu with aiding a terrorist organization. Prosecutor Adnan Çimen demanded 19 to 38.5 years for Ersanlı and 7.5 to 15 years for Zarakolu.

Two members of the International Pen and the International Publishing Association (IPA) will be present in the courtroom. The representatives of ‘Reporters without Borders’ and ‘The World Tribunal on Iraq’ (WTI) will also watch the trial. “This is one of the most confusing mass trials here in Turkey. Nearly 200 people are charged with membership in a terrorist organization or sympathizing with illegal groups opposed the ruling party’s policies. The impression given by this trial is that the judicial system in Turkey is in a state of chaos,” PEN Vice President Eugene Schoulgin told the Hürriyet Daily News.

July/02/2012

Lawyers protest court after row over Kurdish


ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu

Lawyers in the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case leave the courtroom as their clients demand to speak in Kurdish. ‘No language but Turkish will be accepted by the court,’ the chief judge tells them

Police and gendarmerie took safety measures around Silivri Prison as protesters rallied for suspects, including prominent academic Büşra Ersanlı, outside the court.
The lawyers left the courtroom in protest in the first hearing of the high-profile Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case in Istanbul’s Silivri court yesterday, when the court rejected all their demands, including the appointment of a translator from Kurdish to Turkish.

Some of the 193 defendants, 132 of whom are under arrest for alleged links with the “urban wing” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), answered the questions directed to them in Kurdish, prompting a reaction from the judges.

Chief judge Ali Alçık refused the suspects’ pleas in Kurdish, saying “no language but Turkish will be accepted by the court.” Suspects who plea in Kurdish will be considered absent, he said. Prosecutors accuse the suspects, including many members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), as well as prominent academic Büşra Ersanlı and publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, of “aiding terrorism” and of putting out “separatist propaganda.” The defendants’ lawyers left the courtroom after the judge rejected all their demands, including a translator, arguing that there was no point in staying. Other demands rejected argued that the court had no authority to her the case and that the evidence against the suspects were “fabricated.” The hearing continued with the pleas of suspects who spoke Turkish. The hearing was still in progress when the Hürriyet Daily News went to press latte yesterday. All the suspects in the courtroom chanted slogans in Kurdish before the hearing began. “To live is to resist,” they shouted. One of the suspects Kudbettin Yüzbaş was the first to plea. He replied to all the questions directed to him in Kurdish, and thus the other hearings were blocked as well, with the court board halting the identification of suspects.

Outside the courtroom there was also tension, with protesters quarreling with security forces. Some 150 lawyers defended the suspects. Meral Tanış Bektaş, a lawyer of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said the use of one’s mother tongue was a fundamental right and that they were ready to seek their rights in international and municipal law. “More than 10,000 people have been detained since April 12, 2009. The judiciary is cooperating with the government … It is not suspects here that are being tried, but the BDP,” Bektaş said. Another suspect, İnan Poyraz, also took the floor, saying that the right to a defense in one’s mother tongue was a natural right. “If the court board has a problem in understanding the Kurdish language, a translator could be provided.”

Four people from the International Pen and Sweden based International Publishing Asscosiation (IPA) attended the hearing as observers, as well as BDP deputies Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Gülten Kışanak. The Chief Judge said an interim decision would be taken on July 15.

Van robbed during trial

A van belonging to a group of high-profile officials from International PEN and the International Publishing Association (IPA) was robbed by an unidentified person or persons yesterday during the first hearing in the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case in Istanbul.

Passports, documents and computers belonging to Bjorn Smith-Simonsen, the head of the Freedom to Publish Committee of the Geneva-based International Publishing Association (IPA), Alexis Krikorian, freedom to publish director of the IPA, and Eugene Schoulgin, vice president of International PEN, were stolen.

The officials, who were in Silivri, said they also had a large amount of money in the van, but it was not stolen.

The van was parked in a high-security gendarmerie area. KCK suspect and publisher Ragıp Zarakolu said the situation was suspicious, since the observers were in Silivri to support suspects.

July/03/2012