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TURKEY TAGS MINORITIES WITH 'RACE CODE'
http://asbarez.com/112334/turkey-tags-minorities-with-race-code/
Friday, August 2nd, 2013
St. Giragos Armenian Church in Turkey
State Racism Still Alive in Turkey, Leaked Document Reveals
ISTANBUL--Turkey's Interior Ministry has confirmed that minorities in
the country are given secret codes depending on which community they
belong to and that such information is sent to the Education Ministry.
This confirmation comes less than a week after the categorization
system was revealed by the Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper, Agos.
Concern over the "race codes" was raised on August 1 after
Agos uncovered an official document penned by the Istanbul
Provincial Education Directorate, revealing that Turkey's population
administration system has been categorizing citizens who have Armenian,
Jewish or Anatolian Greek origins with secret "race codes."
"Minority citizens' race status is given to the Education Ministry
based on information taken from the state register of the Ottoman
period," the Interior Ministry said in a statement that was sent to
Agos on August 1. The statement also said that contemporary state
registers do not record any information about the race or religion
of citizens.
"There are no categories of race, breed, or sect in the state
registers," said the statement sent to Agos.
Race statuses for minorities are taken from their nationality or race
information during Ottoman times and sent to the Education Ministry,
according to the 40th and 41st articles of the Lausanne Treaty, which
was signed between Turkey and Western powers in 1923 and paved the
way for the establishment of the Turkish Republic.
"Citizens with Armenian origins are coded as '2,'" Agos said in its
lead story on August 1.
The uncovered document, sent from the Istanbul Provincial Education
Directorate to the Å~^iÅ~_li District National Education office,
stated that "since 1923, the secret code of Armenians has been '2'
on identity registration certificates," according to Agos.
"Since 1923, identity registration certificates have had a secret
'race code,'" the document added.
An official from the population administration told the daily Radikal
that the practice was being conducted "to allow minority groups to
use their rights as dictated by the Lausanne Treaty."
As part of the practice, Greeks are classified as "1," Armenians are
coded as "2," while Jews are registered as "3" in the system. Other
non-Turkish groups are not coded, an official told Radikal.
Opposition party lawmakers harshly criticized the alleged document.
"If this is true, it is grave. It must be examined. I will bring this
to Parliament's agenda," Sezgin Tanrıkulu, deputy head of the main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told Hurriyet Daily News.
Altan Tan, a deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), stated
that there had long been such allegations but that they were always
denied by the authorities. Tan urged Interior Minister Muammer Guler
to make a statement on the issue.
"If there is such a thing going on, it is a big disaster. The fact that
the state is illegally profiling its own citizens based on ethnicity
and religion, and doing this secretly, is a big catastrophe," Tan said.
From: A. Papazian
http://asbarez.com/112334/turkey-tags-minorities-with-race-code/
Friday, August 2nd, 2013
St. Giragos Armenian Church in Turkey
State Racism Still Alive in Turkey, Leaked Document Reveals
ISTANBUL--Turkey's Interior Ministry has confirmed that minorities in
the country are given secret codes depending on which community they
belong to and that such information is sent to the Education Ministry.
This confirmation comes less than a week after the categorization
system was revealed by the Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper, Agos.
Concern over the "race codes" was raised on August 1 after
Agos uncovered an official document penned by the Istanbul
Provincial Education Directorate, revealing that Turkey's population
administration system has been categorizing citizens who have Armenian,
Jewish or Anatolian Greek origins with secret "race codes."
"Minority citizens' race status is given to the Education Ministry
based on information taken from the state register of the Ottoman
period," the Interior Ministry said in a statement that was sent to
Agos on August 1. The statement also said that contemporary state
registers do not record any information about the race or religion
of citizens.
"There are no categories of race, breed, or sect in the state
registers," said the statement sent to Agos.
Race statuses for minorities are taken from their nationality or race
information during Ottoman times and sent to the Education Ministry,
according to the 40th and 41st articles of the Lausanne Treaty, which
was signed between Turkey and Western powers in 1923 and paved the
way for the establishment of the Turkish Republic.
"Citizens with Armenian origins are coded as '2,'" Agos said in its
lead story on August 1.
The uncovered document, sent from the Istanbul Provincial Education
Directorate to the Å~^iÅ~_li District National Education office,
stated that "since 1923, the secret code of Armenians has been '2'
on identity registration certificates," according to Agos.
"Since 1923, identity registration certificates have had a secret
'race code,'" the document added.
An official from the population administration told the daily Radikal
that the practice was being conducted "to allow minority groups to
use their rights as dictated by the Lausanne Treaty."
As part of the practice, Greeks are classified as "1," Armenians are
coded as "2," while Jews are registered as "3" in the system. Other
non-Turkish groups are not coded, an official told Radikal.
Opposition party lawmakers harshly criticized the alleged document.
"If this is true, it is grave. It must be examined. I will bring this
to Parliament's agenda," Sezgin Tanrıkulu, deputy head of the main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told Hurriyet Daily News.
Altan Tan, a deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), stated
that there had long been such allegations but that they were always
denied by the authorities. Tan urged Interior Minister Muammer Guler
to make a statement on the issue.
"If there is such a thing going on, it is a big disaster. The fact that
the state is illegally profiling its own citizens based on ethnicity
and religion, and doing this secretly, is a big catastrophe," Tan said.
From: A. Papazian