M E M O R A N D U M
FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE
MEMBERS
OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL,
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
AND
OF THE MEMBERS OF THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
T U R K E Y’
s
CANDIDACY FOR MEMBERSHIP OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION
Summary
This Memorandum has been drafted
and is put forward by a number of co-signatories- human rights
organisations and associations connected with the relevant minorities- in
the context of the forthcoming consultations and decision on the Republic
of Turkey’s application to join the European Union.
The European Parliament has urged
Turkey on numerous occasions since 1987 to recognize the genocide
committed against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. The
signatories have examined the official position of the Turkish government
regarding those Christian minorities still present on Turkish territory
(Armenians, Syriacs and other Aramean-speaking Christians, as well as
Pontic Greeks); they have come to the conclusion that their situation has
in fact significantly worsened over the years 2002 and 2003, at which time
the Minister of Education of Turkey, Dr. Huseyn Celik, launched a
propaganda campaign against them. Those in Turkey’s teachers’ union
voicing criticism on the subject, and characterizing these measures as
racist, have been prosecuted and condemned in criminal courts.
According to the signatories,
those activities of the Turkish Interior Ministry which are characterized
by hostility towards minorities are not only obstacles to appeasement
between Turcs on the one hand, and Armenians, Syriacs and Pontic Greeks on
the other, but they actually constitute a threat to the democratisation
process currently under way in Turkey. As a consequence, the
co-signatories propose to the European Parliament, European Commission and
European Council, inter alia, to suspend subsidies intended to the Turkish
Ministry of Education until the issue is resolved, and to step up its
support to civil society initiatives in the field of minority rights.
The
cosignatory organizations (in alphabetical order)
AAE-Assembly of Armenians of Europe
/
Brussels
ACSA -
Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac Association
/ Sweden
AGBU -
Armenian General Benevolent Union - Section of Switzerland
/ Geneva
Abovian
Armenian Cultural Association
/ The Hague
ADL -
Ramgavar France (Arménien Démocrate Libéral) /
Paris
AUS -
Armenian Union
of Switzerland
/ Geneva
Christian
Solidarity International
/ Zurich
Christian Solidarity Worldwide /
London
Europe-Third World Centre - CETIM
/ Geneva
FOAN -
The Federation of Armenian Organisations in The Netherlands
/ The
Hague
FSPC -
Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches
/ Bern
FASD -
Föderation der Aramäer (Suryoye) in Deutschland e.V.
Society for threatened poples – Germany
/
Göttingen
Society for threatened poples – Switzerland
/ Bern
Human
Rights Without Frontiers
/
Brussels
IADL -
International Association of Democratic Lawyers
Informations- und Dokumentationszentrum Armenien
/ Berlin
Institut
für Armenische Fragen e.V.
/ Munich
lnstitute Tchobanian /
Paris
Interfaith International
/ Oxford, UK
International Council of Jewish Women
International Educational Development
/ Los Angeles
LICRA -
The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism
/
Geneva
LIDLIP -
International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples
/ Geneva
Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights
/ Greece
MRAP -
Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples
/ Paris
SAA -
Switzerland-Armenia Association/Bern
SUA –
Syriac Universal Alliance/Netherlands
The
Union of Armenian Associations in Sweden /
Uppsala
TÜDAY
- Menschenrechtsverein Türkei/Deutschland e.V.
/ Köln
Verein
der Griechen aus Pontos in München
/ Munich
Verein
der Völkermordgegner e.V. /
Frankfurt
a.M.
WILPF
-
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
/ Geneva
Working
Group Recognition – Against Genocide, for International Understanding
/
Munich, Berlin
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