The Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper Agos published as its headline story on Aug. 1 a report on an official document that openly states “citizens with Armenian origin are coded with ‘2.’”
The implementation is reported to have been in place since 1923, the foundation year of the Turkish Republic.
A Turkish citizen’s mother whose origin is Armenian requested to register her child at an Armenian kindergarden, but the school responded by asking her to prove she had the “2 code” in order to check that she had not changed religion, according to the document. In Turkey, only minority communities’ members can register their children at minority schools, according to the education law.
The document, sent from the Istanbul Provincial Education Directorate to the Şişli District National Education office, stated that “since 1923, the secret code of Armenians is ‘2’ on identity registration certificates,” according to the Agos report.
“Since 1923, identity registration certificates have a secret ‘race code,’” the document added.
The family’s lawyer, İsmail Cem Halavurt, said the struggle to register children at the Armenian kindergarden was still continuing.
“We are now waiting for an official document saying, ‘Yes, your race code is 2, you can register at an Armenian school,’” Halavurt told the Agos.
Interior Ministry officials were not available for comment when approached by the Hürriyet Daily News, and referred reporters to the Directorate General for Population and Citizenship Affairs, which is a body working under their own ministry.
An official from the population administration told daily Radikal that the practice was being conducted “to allow minority groups use their rights stemming the Lausanne Treaty,” signed between Turkey and Western countries, which led to the establishment of the modern Turkish Republic.
As part of the practice, Greeks were coded 1, Armenians were coded 2, and Jews were coded 3. Other minorities or groups are not coded, the official told daily Radikal.
While there was no immediate official response to the report, opposition parties’ lawmakers harshly criticized the alleged document.
“If this is true, it is fatal. It must be examined. I will bring this onto Parliament’s agenda,” Sezgin Tanrıkulu, deputy head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Altan Tan, a deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), stated that there had long been such allegations, but they were always denied by the authorities. Tan urged Interior Minister Muammer Güler to make a statement on the issue.
“If there is such a thing going on, it is a big disaster. The state illegally profiling its own citizens based on ethnicity and religion, and doing this secretly, is a big catastrophe,”
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com
1/8/13
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Turkish ID cards reveal racial discrimination against non- Muslims...
ReplyDeleteReports in the Turkish press reveal the Turkish state discriminates between Turkish citizens of Greek, Jewish and Armenian descent in a racist manner.
According to daily Taraf, identity cards of non-Muslim citizens begin with a different number than those of all other Turkish citizens. The paper reveals identity card numbers of Istanbul’s citizens of Greek origin begin with the number 1. Those of Jewish origin begin with the number 3 and those of Armenian origin start with the number 2!
This practice demonstrates racial discrimination against non-Muslim minorities on behalf of the state, the paper says, which dates back to 1923 when the Turkish state was founded.
There had been rumors of this practice existing and now it was proved by a document of the Department of Education.
An Armenian family had referred to the Department after taking the Turkish citizenship in fear of discrimination against them. After a woman had changed her religion and stated she was Christian after being baptized, she was asked for a document by the ministry of Education in order to register her child in school.....http://www.balkaneu.com/turkish-id-cards-reveal-racial-discrimination-non-muslims/
2/8/13