Discussions over the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) reform package have focused on political and other concerns, but the fact remains that should the amendments pass in the referendum and become law, this will forever affect the lives of millions of groups in Turkey. Article 10 of the amendments would add a single but critical sentence to the legislation: “Precautions taken to protect special groups such as children, the elderly and the disabled cannot be considered to violate the principle of equality.”“If the constitutional amendment package is passed, then a municipality will no longer need to get permission from the Ministry of Education to open a school for children with disabilities, for positive discrimination in favor of persons with disabilities will be in place legally, and we will finally have a more modern system with regard to this,” says Cemal Merdan, head of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipal Council’s Disabled Persons’ Commission and president of the Turkish Persons with Orthopedic Disabilities Federation.
Should the amendments pass in the referendum as expected, persons with disabilities will for the first time in Turkey be able to legally benefit from positive discrimination. This means that new projects in various fields -- from transportation to healthcare and from education to employment -- will be shaped with persons with disabilities, children and the elderly in mind. In Turkey, attempts to pave the way for positive discrimination for the above groups is sometimes met with legal obstacles, as opponents have been able to portray measures like handicap-friendly workplaces, special discounts on public transportation and elevators in apartment buildings as violations of the principle of equality of citizens under the law.
This means that provision of services oriented toward these groups will no longer be left up to individual and institutional prerogatives, as these rights will be enshrined in the law of the land. Municipalities and local administrations will no longer be able to ignore the needs of children, the elderly and persons with disabilities when carrying out their activities with public funds. Civil society groups hope that the changes will ensure that everyone in society -- regardless of their age or physical ability -- will be able to truly benefit equally as citizens when the referendum passes.
What the reforms mean for persons with disabilities
The constitutional reforms, if passed, will change the standard of life and legal rights for persons with disabilities in Turkey once implemented. They will for the first time bring persons with disabilities as a group under the legal protection of the Constitution. Service-providing responsibilities will increase for municipalities and other local administrations, while economic measures like discounts on transportation, healthcare and education will be saved from the specter of claims of “inequality.” Employment conditions for persons with disabilities should improve within the new legal framework, while Turkey will begin to fulfill all its responsibilities under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which it is already a signatory. All urban planning projects will automatically include features such as handicap access from now on.
Commenting on the expected changes, Turkey Disabled Confederation President Yusuf Çelebi noted that positive discrimination was not a bonus, but a necessary step in order to allow persons with disabilities to benefit from the same individual rights that the able-bodied do.
