Roma people excited, hopeful as meeting with PM approaches

“This [initiative] is a concrete step that has not been taken for over 80 years [since the foundation of the Turkish Republic] and is a promising one. We think the government is sincere and working hard on this issue. We will try to contribute the best we can,” İzmir Roma Association President Abdullah Çıstır told Today's Zaman.

Çıstır notes that the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) move to bring a solution to problems Roma face in Turkey has been the first of its kind. The government launched the initiative with a workshop in December to listen to the Roma with the purpose of learning what they expect from the government.

Organized as part of the Roma initiative, tomorrow's Roma meeting will be held at İstanbul's Abdi İpekçi Sports Hall and attended by more than 10,000 Roma. The meeting, which will start at 12 p.m., will have a festive atmosphere because some Roma groups will stage dance performances and concerts. Well-known Roma singer Kibariye will also perform. Following the concerts and speeches of Roma representatives, State Minister Faruk Çelik, who is coordinating the government's Roma initiative, will deliver a speech, to be followed by Erdoğan's address, during which he is expected to announce new measures aimed at improving the community's standard of living as well as countering the discrimination they face.

The Roma initiative is in fact a part of the government’s democratic initiative, which is intended to expand the rights of previously disadvantaged groups and communities such as the Kurds, the Alevis and the Roma.

“Our aim is for no single citizen to be dissatisfied. Our Roma were nomads, homeless people who were forced to live in tents under unsuitable living conditions for years. We think we have to do whatever we can to make these people who were humiliated for years feel that they too are equal citizens of the country,” AK Party Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik told Today’s Zaman while explaining the motives driving the government to launch the Roma initiative.

Noting that the leading demands of the Roma community are employment, housing and enrolling their children in school, Çelik says the government has taken it upon itself to address the Roma’s suffering as it is widely known that many Roma children face mockery and discrimination at school. He also underlined that the Municipality of Hendek in Bolu province constructed housing for the Roma, a move that can be seen as promising for the future of the initiative. The Roma have already moved into their new houses.

Turkey’s Roma population, many of whom make their living by selling flowers in the streets, are hopeful about the government’s “Roma initiative.”

Another Roma representative, Cemal Erkasap, who heads the Aegean province of Aydın’s Söke Roma Association, says they find the government’s approach positive. Recently briefing the Roma residents of Söke on the government’s plan for the Roma community, Erkasap said the state is getting ready to embrace the Roma after decades of neglect. “The existence of the Roma is now accepted. We will no longer be the ethnic group that is humiliated the most. We find these steps that are being taken to eliminate some wrong opinions and prejudices about us to be promising and sincere,” he said.

The first step has already been taken as part of the government initiative: A report was drafted listing the Roma community’s demands from the government. Minister Çelik is expected to present a short summary of the report at Sunday’s gathering. A government-sponsored workshop was held on Dec. 9, 2009 to address issues facing the Roma community. Representatives of Turkey’s Roma community in İstanbul, Edirne, Kırşehir, Artvin, Van and several other cities, 120 people in all, attended the event.

The report includes Roma requests that they be mentioned in Friday sermons in an effort to eliminate prejudices against them. the inclusion of information about Roma in textbooks and the elimination of insulting expressions against Roma from course books as well as the provision of identity cards to all Roma and social programs to keep Roma children from abusing drugs, along with the prevention of early marriages. Since many Roma live as nomads, they often do not have identity cards. Among other things, the Roma wish to receive an education and be respected in society.

According to the workshop report, there are 500,000 Roma living in Turkey, while other sources estimate as many as 2 million. Some 20,000 Turkish Roma are nomads. The most significant problems experienced by the Roma are insults and discrimination. They are generally referred to as “çingene,” a pejorative term meaning gypsy, but there are 20 other expressions commonly used in Turkish to refer to them.

Still much to be done for Roma

Although the Roma are pleased to see that a government is for the first time addressing their problems, they say they expect more concrete steps to be taken. Çıstır says they are concerned about the initiative being handled superficially. “I think the government launched the initiative without the necessary preparations. They are approaching the issue with concrete steps, but we have so many problems, they should come running,” he says. Stressing that it is promising to see the problems faced by the Roma on the agenda today, Çıstır criticizes the government for not including universities and local governments in the initiative and expects more visible steps. “I asked the minister [Çelik] about the amount of resources they plan to allocate for the initiative in 2010. I could not get an answer,” he says.

İzmir’s Dikili Roma Culture and Social Solidarity Association head Sitem Kara also underlines that Sunday’s meeting will not be a workshop but a meeting between the prime minister and thousands of Roma. Noting that a commission comprising 12 Roma representatives was set up following December’s meeting and that they are of the same opinion as the government on most issues, Kara says recent developments are positive. However, he says they expect a parliamentary commission to be set up that can handle the Roma community’s problems.

The Roma are also concerned about new housing to be constructed for the Roma community in Turkey with the cooperation of the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ), which was the government’s pledge after the first workshop. Noting that the government should consult Roma associations in every project it develops concerning the Roma community, Erkasap asked that the Roma not be housed outside city centers, in a reference to the demolition of houses belonging to Roma in İstanbul’s Sulukule neighborhood as part of a renovation project in the area.

Despite their concerns, Roma representatives lend their support to the initiative, saying the Roma have hope. Stating that at least 2,000 Roma will go to İstanbul from İzmir for Sunday’s meeting, Çıstır says the Roma are excited. “They are excited to hear the prime minister’s speech, to see the Bosporus and to listen to Kibariye. They will travel in more than 30 buses from İzmir. We have concerns, but we do find the government sincere, and we are determined to make any positive contribution to this process that we can,” he adds. Çıstır also notes that the group from İzmir will arrive in İstanbul early on Sunday and head to the Eyüp Sultan Mosque first. “The group will pray the dawn prayer there and afterwards go to the Abdi İpekçi Sports Hall. We do that to break prejudices about us regarding our faith. There are still people who question our faith,” he says.