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Head Of Armenian PACE Delegation Asks CoE To Pressurize Turkey

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  • Head Of Armenian PACE Delegation Asks CoE To Pressurize Turkey

    HEAD OF ARMENIAN PACE DELEGATION ASKS COE TO PRESSURIZE TURKEY

    news.am
    April 16 2010
    Armenia

    Head of the PACE Armenian delegation Davit Harutyunyan sent a letter
    to Secretary General of the CoE Thorbjorn Jagland and PACE President
    Mevlut Cavusoglu, as well as Members of PACE National delegations
    on Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan's threats to deport Armenian
    migrants from the country.

    The letter reads:

    "Over the past two weeks the Prime Minister of Turkey has twice
    explicitly stated his intention to deport Armenians who allegedly
    reside in Turkey illegally. Immediately after the US Congress Foreign
    Affairs Committee passed a resolution specifying &'the systematic and
    deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians [in Ottoman Empire]
    as genocide' Recep Tayyip Erdogan told to BBC &'We are turning a
    blind eye to the remaining 100,000 [Armenians, who are not citizens
    of Turkey]. Tomorrow, I may tell these 100,000 to go back to their
    country, if it becomes necessary'.

    After the Swedish Parliament passed a decision recognizing the
    Genocide of Armenians in 1915, the Prime Minister of Turkey in his
    interview to &'Spiegel' told: &'We turn to Armenian Diaspora and
    those countries that support the Diaspora: there are Armenians in
    Turkey who are Turkish citizens, and there are those who live in
    our country illegally. So far we have not considered the question
    of deportation, but if the Diaspora continues to exert pressure [to
    recognize the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire], we could imagine
    ourselves capable of doing that'.

    These statements raised a wave of criticism even in Turkey.

    Nevertheless the Prime Minister of Turkey refused to apologize and
    to correct his mistake claiming only that he was misinterpreted and
    misunderstood. But later events clearly showed that the Prime Minister
    continues the same discriminatory approach.

    These statements raise serious concerns in that a person who bears the
    responsibility for the policy of the Republic of Turkey singles out
    a particular group of national origin in a context totally unrelated
    to any objective of addressing the issue of illegal migration. They
    imply application of Turkey's immigration laws and policies selectively
    and inconsistently, targeting a specific national group.

    Such irresponsible statements flagrantly violate every international
    treaty and convention in the field of racism and discrimination and
    require urgent attention and prompt reaction by the Council of Europe
    and its Parliamentary Assembly in particular. It is regrettable that
    up to now neither the Secretary General of the Council of Europe nor
    the President of the PACE reacted to such irresponsible statements,
    which violate the principles and values of the Organization.

    Particularly, the Prime Minister of Turkey must be reminded without
    ambiguity that persecution against any identifiable group on racial,
    national, ethnic or other grounds that are universally recognized as
    impermissible under international law constitutes serious violations of
    human rights and, in some cases, qualifies as crimes against humanity.

    It is particularly striking that such statements have been made by
    a high official representing a country of origin for millions of
    migrants, including illegal migrants in most parts of Europe.

    Furthermore, the words uttered by the Prime Minister in his statements
    manifest negative stereotyping of a particular group, namely migrants
    of Armenian origin, and abuse a situation of vulnerability in which
    these migrants find themselves.

    The Council of Europe should, therefore issue a clear and unambiguous
    warning to the Government of Turkey about the nature and content of
    statements made by its Prime Minister and impermissibility of using
    this issue for making pressure on foreign countries by discriminatory
    application of migration policies towards a particular national group.

    The Council should also remind strongly the Government of Turkey of
    its obligations and responsibilities under international human rights
    law to safeguard and protect migrants against illegal or violent acts.

    It is noticeable that recognition and condemnation of the genocide
    by the international community is not only a tribute to the victims
    of the genocides, but also an important step towards prevention of
    the crime of genocide in the future. Yet, the statement of the Prime
    Minister of Turkey amounts to clear manifestation of hate speech and
    humiliation of a particular minority group, which may give rise to
    genocidal tendencies in Turkey. In this connection, it is important
    to consider what steps need to be taken to prevent development of
    such tendencies in Turkey as well as any manifestations of racism
    and discrimination in respect of any national or ethnic group.

    It's worth drawing attention to the fact that to date Turkey has
    not ratified Protocol N12 to the ECHR, which provides for a general
    prohibition of discrimination and has not signed and ratified the
    Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities,
    the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

    Based on his visit to Turkey in 2009, the Commissioner for Human
    Rights of the Council of Europe initiated a dialogue on the human
    rights of minorities and subsequently published his report on this
    issue. The Commissioner focused on and provided recommendations on
    a number of major issues, namely, he recommended the creation and
    implementation of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation,
    the ratification of Protocol N12 to ECHR and Turkey's accession to
    the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

    In its third Report on Turkey (adopted on 25 June 2004) the European
    Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) emphasized the need
    to reinforce respect for the rights of immigrants, irrespective of
    their legal status, asylum seekers and refugees.

    ECRI also recommends that the Turkish authorities ratify Protocol
    N12 to the ECHR as soon as possible. It recommended to the Turkish
    authorities to:

    1. make the declaration under Article 14 of the International
    Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination,
    empowering the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
    to receive individual communications,

    2. consider withdrawing their reservations in respect of Article 27 of
    the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 13
    of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

    3. sign and ratify UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in
    Education, Framework Convention for the Protection of National
    Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,
    the Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at
    Local Level and the European Convention on Nationality,

    4. sign and ratify Convention on Cybercrime and its Additional
    Protocol on the criminalization of acts of a racist or xenophobic
    nature committed through computer networks.

    I believe that the Council of Europe should immediately take adequate
    steps to influence the Government of Turkey to abstain from public
    threats or actions of racist or discriminatory nature.

    For your information I've attached to this letter appendix, which
    contains the declarations and reservations of the Republic of Turkey
    to some of the most important international treaties dealing with
    the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination and rights
    of migrants."
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