Roma, Alevis and minorities are next in line in gov’t initiative

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) met this weekend for the 14th Consultation and Evaluation Caucus of the party in Ankara’s Kızılcahamam district where they decided on a roadmap they will be pursuing in the period up to the 2011 general election. Alevis, the Roma and some non-Muslim communities that have a “minority” status under the law will be included in the democratic initiative package that began as a Kurdish initiative this summer.

The AK Party this weekend discussed what strategy could be used against the opposition as well as other groups who stand opposed to democratic reforms. The party leadership decided on individuals who will have the authority to make statements for the party and the government in the initiative process. These individuals are Prime Minister Erdoğan, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek, Chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış, deputy chairmen of the AK Party Hüseyin Çelik, Salih Kapusuz and Ömer Çelik; and deputy chairmen of the AK Party’s parliamentary group Bekir Bozdağ and Suat Kılıç. According to the new strategy, nobody except these individuals has the authority to make statements on the initiative.

AK Party deputies were again given the red lines that are never to be crossed when implementing reforms to actualize the democratic initiatives. Every move has to comply with the first three articles of the Constitution. According to this, Turkey’s unitary structure, flag and official language will not be changed.

The government has also decided to bring back half the population of the Makhmour refugee camp located in northern Iraq for Kurdish migrants -- a decision reached at the end of talks with United Nations officials. The fate of those remaining will be left in the hands of the UN.

Also this weekend, the state minister in charge of the Religious Affairs Directorate, Faruk Çelik, said the government has planned new legislation to expand the rights of Alevis in Turkey as a community. He said that the government will be holding the last of a series of workshops on the Alevi question on Dec. 17, noting that steps to be taken to address problems faced by Alevis will be announced after this date.

So far, the government has heard Alevi demands in four workshops held to date. A report combining these demands will be compiled at the end of the next workshop, deciding the government’s plans on the issue. The government has gathered under four main headings the demands of those Alevi organizations that it says are “reasonable,” but it will not heed the demands of more radical groups and those organizations formed by Alevis who reside in Europe.

One of the demands some Alevi groups conveyed to the government was their request to have Alevi dedes, or spiritual leaders, included on the payroll of the Religious Affairs Directorate and the Culture Ministry. The government is likely to meet this demand. A second such request likely to be met is including cemevleri, Alevi places of worship, as places of worship whose utility bills are paid for by the state. The Religious Affairs Directorate will also be allocating some of its funds to cemevleri.

The Roma, non-Muslims and minorities

The government will be coming together in December with 87 Roma organizations to address problems faced by the Roma in Turkey.

Mustafa Aksu, the Honorary President of the Federation of Gypsy Cultural Associations, told Today’s Zaman that since 2002, the government has resolved some of the most important issues faced by the Roma, such as the elimination of discriminatory phrases about the Roma from school textbooks and officially authorized dictionaries.

The government will also be working on a plan to meet the demands of leaders of minorities according to their legal definition in Turkey and other non-Muslim groups, such as the Syriacs, who are non-Muslims but not considered minorities under the law. On Aug. 15, Erdoğan got together with leaders of Armenian, Greek, Jewish and Syriac communities and asked them to submit a report on their problems. These groups have relayed their demands to the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry. The government is hoping to meet most of these demands that do not call for Constitutional changes. Most of the demands of non-Muslim communities can easily be met through changes to laws and regulations. For some other demands, the legal infrastructure exists but these are not being enforced accordingly. The government will work to enforce these laws.