Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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19 Ethnic groups

19.01 As noted in the European Commission Turkey 2006 Progress Report released on 8 November 2006:
“Turkey’s approach to minority rights remains unchanged. According to the Turkish authorities, under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, minorities in Turkey consist exclusively of non-Muslim religious communities. The minorities associated in practice by the authorities with the Treaty of Lausanne are Jews, Armenians and Greeks. However, there are other communities in Turkey which, in the light of the relevant international and European standards, could qualify as minorities.” [71a] (p20)
19.02 The EC 2006 report continued:
“The February 2005 visit of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) to Ankara has not been followed up and no progress has been made in starting a dialogue on the situation of national minorities in Turkey. The deepening of such a dialogue between Turkey and the HCNM is necessary. It needs to include relevant areas such as minority education, minority languages, the participation of minorities in public life and broadcasting in minority languages. This would facilitate Turkey's further alignment with international standards and best practice in EU Member States to ensure cultural diversity and to promote respect for and protection of minorities.” [71a] (p20)
19.03 The US State Department (USSD) report 2005, published on 8 March 2006 recorded that “The law provides a single nationality designation for all citizens and does not recognize ethnic groups as national, racial, or ethnic minorities.” [5b] (Section 5)
See also Section 16.01 Government monitoring of human rights
19.04 The EC 2006 report further noted that:
“Turkey’s reservation towards the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), regarding the rights of minorities – to which a number of EU Member States objected as being incompatible with the object and purpose of this Covenant – and its reservation to the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), regarding the right to education, are of concern. Turkey has not signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities or the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.” [71a] (p21)