State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2016 - Turkey

Events of 2015

The year 2015 saw some signs of progress for minorities in Turkey, reflected in the election of a number of new members of parliament (MPs) from minority backgrounds, including the country's Armenian, Roma, Syriac and Yezidi communities, in general elections in June and November. However, significant challenges remain in terms of minority rights, as highlighted during the year in a report by Minority Rights Group International and the History Foundation of Turkey documenting the continued discrimination against minorities in education. Among other challenges, minority students face exclusionary curricula and the absence of mother-tongue instruction for many communities. Only children of Jewish and Christian families may apply to opt out of compulsory classes in Sunni Islam, but the process can be cumbersome and in many schools alternatives are not provided for them. They can still find themselves having to remain in religious instruction classes or, alternatively, having to wander around the school premises – making them vulnerable to taunts from pupils and even teachers.

In July, after a two-year ceasefire, the conflict that has lasted for decades and claimed over 40,000 lives between Turkey's security forces and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) resumed, bringing significant attacks and casualties on both sides. Responding to the renewed hostilities, the government banned Kurdish demonstrations and restricted access to related websites. Turkish authorities have launched a heavy security crackdown since the outbreak of the conflict, including the imposition of an extended curfew to allegedly contain PKK fighters in the predominantly Kurdish city of Cizre in September that left residents without electricity and with limited access to food, water and medical treatment.

Kurdish organizations, businesses and individuals have also reportedly been targeted by nationalists. Reacting against deadly attacks by the PKK on 6 and 8 September, offices belonging to the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) in Ankara and the southern city of Alanya were torched. Elsewhere, too, the conflict reignited inter-communal tensions and led to a spate of attacks against Kurds. In Muğla, a Kurdish farmer was physically assaulted by locals and forced to kiss a statue of Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish state and an important nationalist figurehead, while in Istanbul a 21-year-old Kurdish man was reportedly stabbed to death by a gang who had overheard him speaking Kurdish on the phone.

In November, Tahir Elçi, a renowned Kurdish human rights lawyer and peace advocate, was murdered in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir. An estimated 100,000 people attended his funeral, with his death seen as symbolizing a further setback for efforts to secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Elçi was killed while attempting to raise awareness about the cultural damage caused by fighting between Turkish and PKK forces in Sur, a historic district in Diyarbakir. Sur is predominantly home to Kurds and some Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis, with a wealth of ancient and irreplaceable heritage that has been devastated in the conflict. With the violence intensifying in December, by early 2016 hundreds of shops had been destroyed and more than 30,000 residents forced to flee the area. While the government has promised it will rebuild the district, many locals are suspicious of its intentions as Sur had previously been earmarked for redevelopment, with the state's housing body undertaking demolition work in 2011 that was eventually halted due to strong local opposition. Critics fear that the Turkish authorities will use Sur's reconstruction as an opportunity to reshape the city in line with their economic and security agendas.

Conflict is not the only threat to Turkey's diverse cultural heritage, as development programmes such as the controversial Ilisu dam have undermined the way of life of many communities and resulted in evictions, displacement and resettlement. According to some reports, the dam could displace as many as 78,000 people, most of whom are Kurdish, and impact directly on another 30,000 nomadic people. One of the main sites to be affected is Hasankeyf, a largely Kurdish city with a rich heritage of ancient ruins and caves.

Another marginalized community in Turkey is its Alevi population, the country's largest religious minority, who subscribe to a distinct form of Islam that differs from that practised by the Sunni majority. An important milestone for the community came with the announcement in December of a range of expanded rights for Alevis, including legal recognition of cemevis, their houses of worship – a long-standing area of discrimination. This was preceded some months earlier by the visitation of an Alevi religious leader or dede to an Alevi prisoner in May – the first time an Alevi religious leader had been officially allowed to meet with a community member in jail. Despite this progress, however, problems persist, with reports in June of Alevi homes in the provinces of Elazığ and Kocaeli being daubed with paint. Behzat Hazır, head of the Elazığ Human Rights Association's (İHD) branch, called on people to remain calm as the tagging was intended to create 'an environment of fear and panic, making people anxious and deepening the religious discrimination'.

Land and property rights remain a significant barrier for religious minorities, a situation that has seen many important cultural heritage sites destroyed, appropriated or neglected. In Turkey's assessment for joining the EU, released in March, the European Commission called on the government to protect minority rights, including to 'allow the reopening of the Halki Greek Orthodox Seminary and lift all obstacles to its proper functioning', ensure that property and educational rights of the Greek minorities on Imbros and Tenedos were safeguarded, and resolve 'outstanding issues related to the restitution of land' belonging to Syriacs, a religious minority, including the Mor Gabriel monastery and other sites. In many cases, the appropriation of legal land deeds decades ago has left important minority sites vulnerable to demolition or redevelopment. In May, for instance, the Kamp Armen orphanage – a site of great importance to the Armenian minority community and once a thriving cultural area before the state annulled the foundation's ownership of the land in 1983 – began to be demolished. However, after extensive protests and vigils brought the demolition to a halt, the landowner agreed to donate the site to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church, which plans to rebuild it.

Turkey's Roma continue to suffer the effects of deep-seated social exclusion, commonly having to leave school early and work in the informal sector to help their families survive, leaving them unable to access public services. The community is frequently targeted with hate speech as well as physical violence. In January, for example, in the western city of Denizli, a 10-year-old Roma boy was killed by a landlord who accused him of theft, sparking clashes between locals and Roma. Discrimination also occurs at an official level. In July, an investigation was launched after police officers reportedly chanted discriminatory slogans during a street march in Keşan, in Edirne province. This followed multiple raids by hundreds of anti-riot police officers in a number of Roma neighbourhoods less than a fortnight before, in which 45 people were detained. The raids were criticized by Özcan Purçu, an MP of Roma origin, who accused police of using Roma neighbourhoods as 'training sites' and fuelling ethnic discrimination.

The Turkish authorities have made some efforts to support greater integration and better access to services for the Roma population, including a US$12 million fund to invest in relevant projects in Roma communities between 2014 and 2016. In February, the governor of the province of Edirne announced the establishment of an Ottoman army band, or mehter, made up of Roma musicians and the training of Roma children as hafiz, reciters of the Qur'an – an announcement welcomed by Roma representatives as an important source of recognition for the community. Nevertheless, far more systematic efforts are needed to address the marginalization of the community, particularly Roma women. Though gender-based violence is an acute problem for women in general in Turkey, as well as under-age marriage, these issues particularly affect girls and women from marginalized communities such as Roma. Uçan Süpürge, a Turkish women's rights organization, estimates that one in five of the Roma girls in an area north-west of Istanbul were married by the time they had turned 15.

These issues also affect refugee women and girls, who are especially vulnerable to exploitation due to war trauma and their financial dependency. Of the estimated 2.2 million Syrian refugees based in Turkey by the end of 2015, many face added disadvantage due to their belonging to minorities such as Syrian Kurds. Dom refugees, another ethnic minority group linked to the Roma with a distinct language, Domari, face particular discrimination due to entrenched prejudices and hostile media coverage of 'Syrian gypsies'. Refugees from the community have given accounts of harassment by both Turkish soldiers and other Syrian refugees. More generally, there is increased concern about the exploitation faced by the estimated 250,000 Syrian refugees working illegally in order to survive, lacking decent wages, employment rights and access to legal recourse.

Despite Turkey allowing access to its public school system, Human Rights Watch reported in November that over 400,000 Syrian refugee children mostly residing outside refugee camps are unable to attend school due to language barriers, issues with integration and a lack of resources to meet related costs such as travel.