Posted by Andreas from dtm2-t9-1.mcbone.net (62.104.210.98) on Monday, June 02, 2003 at 6:51AM :
For "D": Re: Turkey - Minorities ....
Hi, you "D" !
I meant:
Dear Sir,
or:
Shlama Myuqra,
Weren't you searching for info re Turkey - minorities?
The following item may be of interest to you.
Though it's from an Armenian souce it's immediately applicable to the Assyrian situation, too.
More to come, if you tell me what languages you can read (Turkish? Dutch? Swedish, French ? etc).
Please, specifiy your special points of interest (a brief summary of 10-15 pages will surely do).
Best
Andreas
------------------------
European Armenian Federation
for Justice and Democracy
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
B - 1000 BRUXELLES
Tel./Fax : +32 (0) 2 732 70 27
E-mail : contact@eafjd.org
Web : http://www.eafjd.org
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
May 24th, 2003
Contact: Talline Tachdjian
Tel.: +32 (0)2 732 70 27
ARMENIAN PUPILS OF TURKEY ARE COMMANDED TO DENY THE GENOCIDE
Brussels, Belgium – The European Armenian Federation for Justice and
Democracy, launched today an appeal asking Europe to resist the recent
directive of the Turkish National Education Ministry that incites pupils to
deny the Greek, Syriac and Armenian exterminations.
This Ministry document, sent on April 14th to the Primary and Secondary
schools of Turkey, asks the principals of those establishments to arrange
conferences and "testimonies" attesting that Turkey never exterminated those
minorities. It particularly asks the pupils to write essays on the theme of
the "fights against the allegations of genocide".
In this dissertation, the minister categorically prohibits to use formulas,
such as " Turks could kill Armenians" and asks that they be replaced with
other sentences that presente those facts as a necessity in front of
"massacres perpetuated by Armenians". A first report, drafted in this sense
should be sent back by schools to the regional directorates of Ministry
before May 30th.
The European Armenian Federation specifies that such measures touch notably
the Armenian schools of Istanbul, where 70 000 Armenians live today.
"We are particularly shocked by the cynicism of this directory which
encourages not only Turkish aggressiveness towards minorities, but also
requires of such crimes from minorities' children to accuse their own
parents who are victims of extermination " declared Hilda Tchoboian,
President of the European Armenian Federation.
"Unfortunately, the Turkish National Education Minister provides the proof
that Turkey is still far from the norms in use in Europe concerning
education. These measures totally contravene the engagements taken by this
country, in the framework of the enforced partnership for its adhesion",
added the President of the European Armenian Federation.
The European Armenian Federation announces that it launches an appeal on a
European scale asking for the suspension of the European Union's subventions
to the Turkish educational system.
For information, Turkey benefited for its educational system of 100 millions
Euros from The European Commission for the period of 1995-1999, and will
benefit by the same amount for the period 2003-2009. From 2003, it is
moreover eligible for the educational community programmes such as SOCRATE,
LEONARDO DA VINCI, and YOUTH.
We ask all the European, Armenian, Syriac, Greek associations,
organisations, institutions and leaders, all democrats of the European
Countries, to join the European Coalition to denounce the European financing
of The Turkish State negationism. We invite all citizens and NGO's thinking
to build A Europe of rights and freedom to denounce such attitudes from a
candidate country", concluded Hilda Tchoboian.
Hereunder the coalition's statement for your information. Associations and
institutions, as well as citizens and political leaders who wish to join
this Joint Declaration can send an e-mail with "signature" in the subject
heading to contact@eafjd.org, or while returning by fax the present signed
declaration at the +32 2 732 70 27.
#####
STATEMENT BY EUROPEAN CITIZENS AND ORGANISATIONS AGAINST POLICY OF GENOCIDE
DENIAL IN TURKISH SCHOOLS
We, citizens, associations and political leaders from various European Union
countries, have been informed about the last measures taken by Turkey
against its Greek, Armenian and Assyrian minorities.
We firmly condemn the requirement imposed by the Turkish Ministry of
Education on primary and secondary schools to organise conferences and
"testimonials" attesting that these minorities have never suffered
extermination in Turkey. We condemn in particular the requirement that
pupils
write essays on the theme of the "battle against allegations of genocide."
It is appalling that these demands deliberately oppress the many Armenian
pupils whose families include living survivors of the Armenian Genocide or
who are direct descendants of survivors.
We find it particularly shocking that the orders explicitly prohibit the use
of certain language, such as "The Turks may have killed Armenians" and
demand that they be replaced by language that positions these events as a
necessity incurred in the face of "massacres perpetrated by Armenians."
We remind readers that the Armenian Genocide is an historic fact that has
been universally recognized. Only Turkey leads a backwards campaign aimed at
denying it, enacting gross violations of freedom of expression, which we
here
denounce.
We consider these heinous measures to be totally contrary to the values held
by the European Union educational system, and intolerable coming from a
candidate-country.
Consequently, we call upon the European Union to treat this matter firmly,
and urge that this topic be placed on the agenda of the next Community
meeting on the relationship between the European Union and Turkey.
If need be, we ask the European Union to exclude Turkey from present and
future educational aid programs. If those measures prove short, we demand
that the European Union reconsider the EU-Turkey Partnership Cooperation
Agreement.
####
-- Andreas
-- signature .
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