Racism in Turkey
In Turkey, racism and ethnic discrimination are present in its society and throughout its history, including institutional racism against non-Muslim and non-Sunni minorities.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] This appears mainly in the form of negative attitudes and actions by Turks towards people who are not considered ethnically Turkish. Such discrimination is predominantly towards non-Turkish ethnic minorities such as Kurds, Zazas, Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Jews, as well as hostility towards minority forms of Islam such as Alevis, Sufis, and Shias.
In recent years, racism in Turkey has shifted towards Syrian refugees and Arabs in general.[9][10][11][12]
Overview
Year | 1914 | 1927 | 1945 | 1965 | 1990 | 2005 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Muslims | 12,941 | 13,290 | 18,511 | 31,139 | 56,860 | 71,997 |
Greeks | 1,549 | 110 | 104 | 76 | 8 | 3 |
Armenians | 3,604 | 77 | 60 | 64 | 67 | 50 |
Jews | 128 | 82 | 77 | 38 | 29 | 27 |
Others | 176 | 71 | 38 | 74 | 50 | 45 |
Total | 15,997 | 13,630 | 18,790 | 31,391 | 57,005 | 72,120 |
% non-Muslim | 19.1 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
Racism and discrimination in Turkey can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire. Such Ottoman Turkish intellectuals such as Ali Suavi have stated in the 1860s that:[14]
- Turks are superior to other races in political, military and cultural aspects
- The Turkish language surpasses the European languages in its richness and excellence
- Turks constructed the Islamic civilization.
With the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, non-Muslim citizens of the country have been subject to numerous instances of state-sponsored discrimination. For instance, many non-Muslims were fired from their jobs and were denied employment by the bureaucracy.[15][16] The State Employee Law enacted in 1926 aimed at the Turkification of work life in Turkey.[16][17] This law defined Turkishness as a necessary condition to become a state employee.[16]
The Ministry of Education in Turkey adopted an educational curriculum with respect to the Armenians in 2002 which was widely condemned as racist and chauvinist.[18] The curriculum contained textbooks that included phrases such as "we crushed the Greeks" and "traitor to the nation."[18] Thereafter, civic organizations, including the Turkish Academy of Sciences, published a study deploring all racism and sexism in textbooks.[18] However, a report by the Minority Rights Group International (MRG) done in 2015 states that the curriculum of schools continue to depict "Armenians and Greeks as the enemies of the country."[19] Nurcan Kaya, one of the authors of the report, concluded: "The entire education system is based on Turkishness. Non-Turkish groups are either not referred to or referred in a negative way."[20]
As of 2008 there has also been an increase in "hate crimes" in Turkey originating from racism, nationalism, and intolerance.[21] According to Ayhan Sefer Üstün, the head of the parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission, "Hate speech is on the rise in Turkey, so new deterrents should be introduced to stem the increase in such crimes".[22] Despite provisions in the Constitution and the laws there have been no convictions for a hate crime so far, for either racism or discrimination.[21] Since the beginning of 2006 a number of killings were committed in Turkey against people of ethnic or religious minorities or different sexual orientation or social sexual identity. Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code provides for a general ban of publicly inciting people to hatred and disgust.[21]
According to Yavuz Baydar, senior columnist of the Zaman daily newspaper wrote in 2009 that racism and hate speech are on the rise in Turkey, particularly against Armenians and Jews.[24] He writes on January 12, 2009, that "If one goes through the press in Turkey, one would easily find cases of racism and hate speech, particularly in response to the deplorable carnage and suffering in Gaza. These are the cases in which there is no longer a distinction between criticizing and condemning Israel's acts and placing Jews on the firing line."[25] Asli Çirakman asserted in 2011 that there has been an apparent rise in the expression of xenophobic feeling against Kurdish, Armenian, and Jewish presences in Turkey.[26] Çirakman also noted that the ethno-nationalist discourse of the 2000s identifies the enemies-within from among ethnic and religious groups that reside in Turkey, such as the Kurds, the Armenians, and the Jews.[26]
In 2011, a Pew Global Attitudes and Trends survey of 1,000 Turks found that 6% of them had a favorable opinion of Christians, and 4% of them had favorable opinion of Jews. Earlier, in 2006, the numbers had been 16% and 15%, respectively. The Pew survey also found that 72% of Turks viewed Americans as hostile, and 70% of them viewed Europeans as hostile. When asked to name the world's most violent religion, 45% of Turks cited Christianity and 41% cited Judaism, with 2% saying it was Islam. Additionally, 65% of Turks said the Westerners were "immoral."[27]
One of the main challenges facing Turkey in the field of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) concerns would appear to be the need to reconcile the strong sense of national identity and the wish to preserve the unity and integrity of the State with the right of different minority groups within Turkey to express their own sense of ethnic identity, for example through the maintenance and development of linguistic and cultural aspects of that identity.[28]
In a recent discovery by the Armenian newspaper Agos, secret racial codes were used to classify minority communities in the country.[29] According to the racial code, which is believed to be established during the foundations of the republic in 1923, Greeks are classified under the number 1, Armenians 2, and Jews 3.[29] Altan Tan, a deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), believed that such codes were always denied by Turkish authorities and that "if there is such a thing going on, it is a big disaster. The state illegally profiling its own citizens based on ethnicity and religion, and doing this secretly, is a big catastrophe".[29]
According to a research conducted between 2015 and 2017 carried out by Bilgi University, with the support of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK), 90 percent of youth said they would not want their daughters to marry someone "from the 'other' group." While 80 percent of youth said they would not want a neighbor from the "other," 84 percent said they would not want their children to be friends with children from the "other" group. 84 percent said they would not do business with members of the "other" group. 80 percent said they would not hire anyone from the "other." Researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with young people between the ages of 18 and 29. When asked to state which groups they most perceived to be the "other," they ranked homosexuals first with 89 percent, atheists and nonbelievers ranked second with 86 percent, people from other faiths ranked third with 82 percent, minorities stood at 75 percent and extremely religious people ranked fifth with 74 percent.[30]
Against Kurds
Kurds have had a long history of discrimination and massacres perpetrated against them by the Turkish government.[31] One of the most significant is the incident in Dersim where according to an official report of the Fourth General Inspectorate, 13,160 civilians were killed by the Turkish Army and 11,818 people were taken into exile, depopulating the province in 1937–38.[32] According to the Dersimi, many tribesmen were shot dead after surrendering, and women and children were locked into haysheds which were then set on fire.[33] According to McDowall, 40,000 people were killed.[34] According to Kurdish Diaspora sources, over 70,000 people were killed.[35]
The Zilan massacre of 1930,[36][37][38] was a massacre[39][40] of the Kurdish residents of Turkey during the Ararat rebellion, in which 800–1500 armed men participated.[41] According to the daily Cumhuriyet dated July 16, 1930, about 15,000 people were killed and Zilan River was filled with dead bodies as far as its mouth.[42][43][44][45] On August 31, 1930, the daily Milliyet published the declaration of the Turkish prime minister İsmet İnönü: "Only the Turkish nation has the right to demand ethnic and racial rights in this country. Any other element does not have such a right.[46][47] They are Eastern Turkish who were deceived by unfounded propaganda and eventually lost their way."[48]
In an attempt to deny their existence, the Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks" until 1991.[49][50][51] Since then, the Kurdish population of Turkey has long sought to have Kurdish included as a language of instruction in public schools as well as a subject. Several attempts at opening Kurdish instruction centers were stopped on technical grounds, such as wrong dimensions of doors. Turkish sources claimed that running Kurdish-language schools was wound up in 2004 because of 'an apparent lack of interest'.[52] Even though Kurdish language schools have started to operate, many of them have been forced to shut down due to over-regulation by the state. Kurdish language institutes have been monitored under strict surveillance and bureaucratic pressure.[53] Using Kurdish language as main education language is illegal in Turkey. It is accepted only as subject courses.
Kurdish is permitted as a subject in universities,[54] some of those are only language courses while others are graduate or post-graduate Kurdish literature and language programs.[55][56]
Due to the large number of Turkish Kurds, successive governments have viewed the expression of a Kurdish identity as a potential threat to Turkish unity, a feeling that has been compounded since the armed rebellion initiated by the PKK in 1984. One of the main accusations of cultural assimilation relates to the state's historic suppression of the Kurdish language. Kurdish publications created throughout the 1960s and 1970s were shut down under various legal pretexts.[57] Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in government institutions.[58]
Party | Year banned |
---|---|
People's Labor Party (HEP) | |
Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖZDEP) | |
Democracy Party (DEP) | |
People's Democracy Party (HADEP) | |
Democratic Society Party (DTP) |
In April 2000, US Congressman Bob Filner spoke of a "cultural genocide", stressing that "a way of life known as Kurdish is disappearing at an alarming rate".[60] Mark Levene suggests that the genocidal practices were not limited to cultural genocide, and that the events of the late 19th century continued until 1990.[31] In 2019, Deutsche Welle reported that Kurds had been increasingly subject to violent hate crimes.[61]
Certain academics have claimed that successive Turkish governments adopted a sustained genocide program against Kurds, aimed at their assimilation.[62] The genocide hypothesis remains, however, a minority view among historians, and is not endorsed by any nation or major organisation. Desmond Fernandes, a senior lecturer at De Montfort University, breaks the policy of the Turkish authorities into the following categories:[63]
- Forced assimilation program, which involved, among other things, a ban of the Kurdish language, and the forced relocation of Kurds to non-Kurdish areas of Turkey.
- The banning of any organizations opposed to category one.
- The violent repression of any Kurdish resistance.
External video | |
---|---|
In January 2013, the Turkish parliament passed a law that permits use of the Kurdish language in the courts, albeit with restrictions.[65][66] The law was passed by votes of the ruling AKP and the pro-Kurdish rights opposition party BDP, against criticism from the secularist CHP party and the nationalist MHP, with MHP and CHP deputies nearly coming to blows with BDP deputies over the law. In spite of their support in the parliament, the BDP was critical of the provision in the law that the defendants will pay for the translation fees and that the law applies only to spoken defense in court but not to a written defense or the pre-trial investigation.[67] According to one source[66] the law does not comply with EU standards. Deputy prime minister of Turkey Bekir Bozdağ replied to criticism of the law from both sides saying that the fees of defendants who does not speak Turkish will be paid by the state, while, those who speak Turkish yet prefer to speak in the court in another language will have to pay the fees themselves.[68] European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle welcomed the new law.[69]
In February 2013, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a meeting with Muslim opinion leaders, that he has "positive views" about imams delivering sermons in Turkish, Kurdish or Arabic, according to the most widely spoken language among the mosque attendees. This move received support from Kurdish politicians and human rights groups.[70]
Against Arabs
Turkey has a history of strong anti-Arabism, which has been on a significant rise because of the Syrian refugee crisis.[9][10] Haaretz reported that anti-Arabian racism in Turkey mainly affects two groups; tourists from the Gulf who are characterized as "rich and condescending" and the Syrian refugees in Turkey.[9] Haaretz also reported that anti-Syrian sentiment in Turkey is metastasizing into a general hostility toward all Arabs including the Palestinians.[9] Deputy Chairman of the İyi Party warned that Turkey risked becoming "a Middle Eastern country" because of the influx of refugees.[11]
Against Armenians
Although it was possible for Armenians to achieve status and wealth in the Ottoman Empire, as a community they were accorded a status as second-class citizens (under the Millet system)[71] and were regarded as fundamentally alien to the Muslim character of Ottoman society.[72] In 1895, demands for reform among the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire lead to Sultan Abdul Hamid's decision to suppress them resulting in the Hamidian massacres in which up to 300,000 Armenians were killed and many more tortured.[73][74] In 1909, a massacre of Armenians in the city of Adana resulted in a series of anti-Armenian pogroms throughout the district resulting in the deaths of 20,000–30,000 Armenians.[75][76][77] During World War I, the Ottoman government massacred between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians in the Armenian Genocide.[78][79][80][81] The position of the current Turkish government, however, is that the Armenians who died were casualties of the expected hardships of war, the casualties cited are exaggerated, and that the 1915 events could not be considered a genocide. This position has been criticized by international genocide scholars,[82] and by 28 governments, which have resolutions affirming the genocide.
The incident of The Twenty Classes was a policy used by the Turkish government to conscript the male non-Turkish minority population mainly consisting of Armenians, Greeks and Jews during World War II. All of the twenty classes consisted of male minority population, including the elders and mentally ill.[83] They were given no weapons and quite often they did not even wear military uniforms. These non-Muslims were gathered in labor battalions where no Turks were enlisted. They were allegedly forced to work under very bad conditions. The prevailing and widespread point of view on the matter was that wishing to partake in the World War II, Turkey gathered in advance all unreliable non-Turkish men regarded as a “fifth column”.
Varlık Vergisi ("Wealth tax" or "Capital tax") was a Turkish tax levied on the wealthy citizens of Turkey in 1942, with the stated aim of raising funds for the country's defense in case of an eventual entry into World War II. The bill for the one-off tax was proposed by the Şükrü Saracoğlu government, and the act was adopted by the Turkish parliament on November 11, 1942. It was imposed on the fixed assets, such as landed estates, building owners, real estate brokers, businesses, and industrial enterprises of all citizens, including the minorities. However, those who suffered most severely were non-Muslims like the Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Levantines, who controlled a large portion of the economy.[84] Though it was the Armenians who were most heavily taxed.[85]
Some difficulties currently experienced by the Armenian minority in Turkey are a result of an anti-Armenian attitude by ultra-nationalist groups such as the Grey Wolves. According to Minority Rights Group, while the government officially recognizes Armenians as minorities but when used in public, this term denotes second-class status.[86] In Turkey, the term 'Armenian' has often been used as an insult. Kids are taught at a young age to hate Armenians and the "Armenian" and several people have been prosecuted for calling public figures and politicians as such.[87][88][89][90][91]
- Turkish lawyer Fethiye Çetin[91]
In February 2004, the journalist Hrant Dink published an article in the Armenian newspaper Agos titled "The Secret of Sabiha Hatun" in which a former Gaziantep resident, Hripsime Sebilciyan, claimed to be Sabiha Gökçen's niece, implying that the Turkish nationalist hero Gökçen had Armenian ancestry.[92][93][94] The mere notion that Gökçen could have been Armenian caused an uproar throughout Turkey as Dink himself even came under fire, most notably by newspaper columnists and Turkish ultra-nationalist groups, which labeled him a traitor.[95] A US consul dispatch leaked by WikiLeaks and penned by an official from the consulate in Istanbul observed that the entire affair "exposed an ugly streak of racism in Turkish society."[95]
In 2004, Belge Films, the film's distributor in Turkey pulled the release of Atom Egoyan's Ararat film, about the Armenian Genocide, after receiving threats from the Ülkü Ocakları, an ultra nationalist organization.[96][97][98][99] This organization was behind similar threat campaigns against the Armenian community in the past. In 1994, hate mail signed by Ülkü Ocakları was sent to Armenian owned businesses and private homes describing Armenians as 'parasites' and that the massacres of the past will resume.[100] The letters also concluded by saying: "Do not forget: Turkey belongs only to the Turks. We will free Turkey of this exploitation. Don’t force us to send you to Yerevan! So leave now, before we do! Or else, it will boil down, as our Prime Minister (Tansu Çiller.) said, to: ‘either you put an end to it, or else we will.’ That is a final warning!"[100]
Hrant Dink, the editor of the Agos weekly Armenian newspaper, was assassinated in Istanbul on January 19, 2007, by Ogün Samast. He was reportedly acting on the orders of Yasin Hayal, a militant Turkish ultra-nationalist.[103][104] For his statements on Armenian identity and the Armenian Genocide, Dink had been prosecuted three times under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for "insulting Turkishness."[105][106] He had also received numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists who viewed his "iconoclastic" journalism (particularly regarding the Armenian Genocide) as an act of treachery.[107]
The term 'Armenian' is frequently used in politics to discredit political opponents.[108] In 2008, Canan Arıtman, a deputy of İzmir from the Republican People's Party (CHP), called President Abdullah Gül an 'Armenian'.[88][109] Arıtman was then prosecuted for "insulting" the president.[88][108][110] Similarly, in 2010, Turkish journalist Cem Büyükçakır approved a comment on his website claiming that President Abdullah Gül's mother was an Armenian.[111] Büyükçakır was then sentenced to 11 months in prison for “insulting President [Abdullah] Gül”.[111][112][113]
İbrahim Şahin and 36 other alleged members of Turkish ultra-nationalist Ergenekon group were arrested in January, 2009 in Ankara. The Turkish police said the round-up was triggered by orders Şahin gave to assassinate 12 Armenian community leaders in Sivas.[114][115] According to the official investigation in Turkey, Ergenekon also had a role in the murder of Hrant Dink.[116]
In 2010, during a football match between Bursaspor and Beşiktaş J.K., fans of Bursaspor chanted: "Armenian dogs support Beşiktaş".[88] The chant was presumably in reference to the fact that Alen Markaryan, the leader of the Beşiktaş fan base, is of Armenian descent.[117][118][119]
Sevag Balikci, a Turkish soldier of Armenian descent, was shot dead on April 24, 2011, the day of the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, during his military service in Batman.[120] Through his Facebook profile, it was discovered that killer Kıvanç Ağaoğlu was an ultra-nationalist, and a sympathizer of nationalist politician Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and Turkish agent / contract killer Abdullah Çatlı, who himself had a history of anti-Armenian activity, such as the Armenian Genocide Memorial bombing in a Paris suburb in 1984.[121][122][123][124] His Facebook profile also showed that he was a Great Union Party (BBP) sympathizer, a far-right nationalist party in Turkey.[121] Balıkçı's fiancée testified that Sevag told her over the phone that he feared for his life because a certain military serviceman threatened him by saying, "If war were to happen with Armenia, you would be the first person I would kill".[125][126]
On February 26, 2012, the Istanbul rally to commemorate the Khojaly massacre turned into an Anti-Armenian demonstration which contained hate speech and threats towards Armenia and Armenians.[129][130][131][132] Chants and slogans during the demonstration include: "You are all Armenian, you are all bastards", "bastards of Hrant can not scare us", and "Taksim Square today, Yerevan Tomorrow: We will descend upon you suddenly in the night."[129][130]
In 2012 the ultra-nationalist ASIM-DER group (founded in 2002) had targeted Armenian schools, churches, foundations and individuals in Turkey as part of an anti-Armenian hate campaign.[133]
On 23 February 2014, a group of protesters carrying a banner that said, "Long live the Ogun Samasts! Down with Hrant Dink!" paraded in front of an Armenian elementary school in Istanbul and then marched in front of the main building of the Agos newspaper, the same location where Hrant Dink was assassinated in 2007.[134][135]
On 5 August 2014, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a televised interview on NTV news network, remarked that being Armenian is "uglier" even than being Georgian, saying "You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They have said I am Georgian...they have said even uglier things – they have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish."[136][137][138]
In February 2015, graffiti was discovered near the wall of an Armenian church in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul saying, "You’re Either Turkish or Bastards" and "You Are All Armenian, All Bastards".[140][141][142] It is claimed that the graffiti was done by organizing members of a rally entitled "Demonstrations Condemning the Khojali Genocide and Armenian Terror." The Human Rights Association of Turkey petitioned the local government of Istanbul calling it a "Pretext to Incite Ethnic Hate Against Armenians in Turkey".[140][143] In the same month banners celebrating the Armenian Genocide were spotted in several cities throughout Turkey. They declared: "We celebrate the 100th anniversary of our country being cleansed of Armenians. We are proud of our glorious ancestors." (Yurdumuzun Ermenilerden temizlenişinin 100. yıldönümü kutlu olsun. Şanlı atalarımızla gurur duyuyoruz.)[139][144]
In March 2015, the mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek, filed a formal complaint on defamation charges against journalist Hayko Bağdat because he called him an Armenian. The complainant's petition to the court stated: "The statements [by Bağdat] are false and include insult and libel."[145] Gökçek stated that the term "Armenian" meant "disgust".[146] Gökçek sued Bağdat for 10,000 liras under a civil lawsuit. In another case Bağdat was initially sentenced to 105 days imprisonment for insulting Gökçek with the term Armenian. The sentence was converted into a fine of 1'160 Turkish Lira.[147]
In March 2015, graffiti was discovered on the walls of an Armenian church in the Bakırköy district of Istanbul which read "1915, blessed year", in reference to the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Other slurs included "What does it matter if you are all Armenian when one of us is Ogün Samast," which was in reference to the slogan "We are all Armenian" used by demonstrators after the assassination of Hrant Dink.[148] The administrator of the church remarked "This type of thing happens all the time."[148]
– HDP politician Hatice Altınışık[91]
On 3 June 2015, during an election campaign speech in Bingöl directed against opposition party HDP, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that the "Armenian lobby, homosexuals and those who believe in 'Alevism without Ali' – all these representatives of sedition are [the HDP’s] benefactors."[149]
On 24 June 2015, after a concert by Tigran Hamasyan in Ani, a ruined medieval Armenian city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, the president of Ülkü Ocakları of the Kars district, Tolga Adıgüzel, threatened to 'hunt down' Armenians in the streets of Kars.[150][151]
After the June 2015 Turkish general election, when three Armenian MPs were elected to the Grand National Assembly, Hüzeyin Sözlü, the mayor of Adana, reacted in a Twitter post: "Manukyan's nephew in Adana must be very happy now. His three cousins have entered the Parliament. They are from the [Justice and Development Party] AKP, the [Republican People's Party] CHP and the [Peoples' Democratic Party] HDP."[151][152] Sözlü alluded that the three Armenian MPs were related to Matild Manukyan, a Turkish-Armenian businesswoman who is known to have owned several brothels.[151]
During the official state funeral of Turkish serviceman Olgun Karakoyunlu, a man exclaimed: "The PKK are all Armenians, but are hiding. I am Kurdish and a Muslim, but I am not an Armenian. The end of Armenians is near. God willingly, we will bring an end to them. Oh Armenians, whatever you do it is in vain, we know you well. Whatever you do will be in vain."[153] Similarly, in 2007, a state-appointed imam, presiding over a funeral of a Turkish soldier killed by the PKK, said that the death was due to "Armenian bastards".[154]
In September 2015, during the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, a video was released which captured police in Cizre announcing on a loudspeaker to the local Kurdish population that they were "Armenian bastards" (external link of video).[155][156] A few days later, in another instance, the Cizre police made repeated announcements on loudspeaker saying "You are all Armenians" (external link of video).[91][157] The police had also announced: "Armenian offspring, tonight will be your last night".[158] On September 11, towards the end of the siege, the police made a final announcement saying: "Armenian bastards, we will kill you all, and we will exterminate you".[158]
On 9 September 2015, a crowd of Turkish youth rallying in Armenian populated districts of Istanbul chanted "We must turn these districts into Armenian and Kurdish cemeteries".[159]
In September 2015, a 'Welcome' sign was installed in Iğdır and written in four languages, Turkish, Kurdish, English, and Armenian. The Armenian portion of the sign was protested by ASIMDER who demanded its removal.[160] In October 2015, the Armenian writing on the 'Welcome' sign was heavily vandalized.[161] In June 2016, the Armenian writing was completely removed.[162]
In January 2016, when Aras Özbiliz, an ethnic Armenian soccer player, was transferred to the Beşiktaş J.K. Turkish soccer team, a broad hate campaign arose throughout various social media outlets. Çarşı, the supporter group for Beşiktaş, released a statement condemning the racist campaign and reaffirming that it was against racism.[163] The hate campaign also prompted various politicians, including Selina Doğan of the Republican People's Party, to issue a statement condemning it.[164]
In March 2016, a parade conducted in Aşkale, initially dedicated to Turkish martyrs of World War I, turned into "a hate show" and a "hate-filled propaganda against the Armenians."[165][166] During the parade, Enver Başaran, the mayor of Aşkale, expressed gratitude to the "glorious ancestors who extirpated the Armenians".[166]
In April 2018, a graffiti reading “This homeland is ours” was inscribed on the wall and a pile of trash was also dumped in front of the Armenian Surp Takavor Church in Kadıköy district. Kadıköy Municipality condemned and described the action as a “racist attack” in a Twitter post, saying the necessary work has been initiated to clear the writing and remove the trash.[167]
Against Assyrians
The Assyrians also shared a similar fate to that of the Armenians. The Assyrians also suffered in 1915 and they were massacred en masse.[168][169] The Assyrian Genocide or the Seyfo (as it is known to Assyrians) reduced the population of the Assyrians of the Ottoman Empire and Persia from about 650,000 before the genocide to 250,000 after the genocide.[170][171][172]
Discrimination continued well into the newly formed Turkish Republic. In the aftermath of the Sheikh Said rebellion, the Assyrian Orthodox Church was subjected to harassment by Turkish authorities, on the grounds that some Assyrians allegedly collaborated with the rebelling Kurds.[173] Consequently, mass deportations took place and Patriarch Mar Ignatius Elias III was expelled from Mor Hananyo Monastery which was turned into a Turkish barrack. The patriarchal seat was then transferred to Homs temporarily.
Assyrians historically couldn't become civil servants in Turkey and they couldn't attend military schools, become officers in the army or join the police.[174]
Against Greeks
Punitive Turkish nationalist exclusivist measures, such as a 1932 parliamentary law, barred Greek citizens living in Turkey from a series of 30 trades and professions from tailoring and carpentry to medicine, law and real estate.[175] The Varlık Vergisi tax imposed in 1942 also served to reduce the economic potential of Greek businesspeople in Turkey.[176]On 6–7 September 1955 anti-Greek riots were orchestrated in Istanbul by the Turkish military's Tactical Mobilization Group, the seat of Operation Gladio's Turkish branch; the Counter-Guerrilla. The events were triggered by the news that the Turkish consulate in Thessaloniki, north Greece—the house where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881—had been bombed the day before.[176] A bomb planted by a Turkish usher of the consulate, who was later arrested and confessed, incited the events. The Turkish press conveying the news in Turkey was silent about the arrest and instead insinuated that Greeks had set off the bomb. Although the mob did not explicitly call for Greeks to be killed, over a dozen people died during or after the pogrom as a result of beatings and arson. Jews, Armenians and Muslims were also harmed. In addition to commercial targets, the mob clearly targeted property owned or administered by the Greek Orthodox Church. 73 churches and 23 schools were vandalized, burned or destroyed, as were 8 asperses and 3 monasteries.
The pogrom greatly accelerated emigration of ethnic Greeks from Turkey, and the Istanbul region in particular. The Greek population of Turkey declined from 119,822 persons in 1927,[177] to about 7,000 in 1978.[178] In Istanbul alone, the Greek population decreased from 65,108 to 49,081 between 1955 and 1960.[177]
The Greek minority continues to encounter problems relating to education and property rights. A 1971 law nationalized religious high schools, and closed the Halki seminary on Istanbul's Heybeli Island which had trained Orthodox clergy since the 19th century. A later outrage was the vandalism of the Greek cemetery on Imbros on October 29, 2010. In this context, problems affecting the Greek minority on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos continue to be reported to the European Commission.[179]
As of 2007, Turkish authorities have seized a total of 1,000 immovables of 81 Greek organizations as well as individuals of the Greek community.[180] On the other hand, Turkish courts provided legal legitimacy to unlawful practices by approving discriminatory laws and policies that violated fundamental rights they were responsible to protect.[181] As a result, foundations of the Greek communities started to file complaints after 1999 when Turkey's candidacy to the European Union was announced. Since 2007, decisions are being made in these cases; the first ruling was made in a case filed by the Phanar Greek Orthodox College Foundation, and the decision was that Turkey violated Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which secured property rights.[181]
Against Jews
In the 1930s, groups publishing anti-Semitic journals were formed. Journalist Cevat Rıfat Atilhan published a journal in Izmir called Anadolu and which contained anti-Semitic writing.[14] When the publication was outlawed, Atilhan went to Germany and was entertained by Julius Streicher for months. In Der Stürmer, a publication by Streicher, a large article was published about Cevat Rifat Atilhan on 18 August 1934.[14] Upon returning to Turkey, Atilhan started the journal Milli İnkılap which was very similar to Der Stürmer. Consequently, it is argued that much of the anti-Semitic theories in Turkey stem from much of the opinions and material that Atilhan took from Germany.[14]
The Elza Niego affair was an event regarding the murder of a Jewish girl in Turkey named Elza Niego in 1927. During the funeral, a demonstration was held in opposition of the Turkish government which created an anti-Semitic reaction in the Turkish press.[182][183] Nine protestors were immediately arrested under the charge of offending "Turkishness".[183][184][185][186]
The 1934 Resettlement Law was a policy adopted by the Turkish government which set forth the basic principles of immigration.[187] Although the Law on Settlement was expected to operate as an instrument for Turkifying the mass of non-Turkish speaking citizens, it immediately emerged as a piece of legislation which sparked riots against non-Muslims, as evidenced in the 1934 Thrace pogroms against Jews in the immediate aftermath of the law's passage. With the law being issued on 14 June 1934, the Thrace pogroms began just over a fortnight later, on 3 July. The incidents seeking to force out the region's non-Muslim residents first began in Çanakkale, where Jews received unsigned letters telling them to leave the city, and then escalated into an antisemitic campaign involving economic boycotts and verbal assaults as well as physical violence against the Jews living in the various provinces of Thrace.[188] It is estimated that out of a total 15,000-20,000 Jews living in the region, more than half fled to Istanbul during and after the incidents.[189]
The Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul has been attacked three times.[190] First on 6 September 1986, Arab militants killed 22 Jewish worshippers and wounded 6 during Shabbat services at Neve Shalom. This attacked was blamed on the Palestinian militant Abu Nidal.[191][192][193] The Synagogue was hit again during the 2003 Istanbul bombings alongside the Beth Israel Synagogue, killing 20 and injuring over 300 people, both Jews and Muslims alike. Even though a local Turkish militant group, the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front, claimed responsibility for the attacks, police claimed the bombings were "too sophisticated to have been carried out by that group",[191] with a senior Israeli government source saying: "the attack must have been at least coordinated with international terror organizations".[193]
In 2015, an Erdogan-affiliated news channel broadcast a two-hour documentary titled "The Mastermind" (a term which Erdogan himself had introduced to the public some months earlier), which forcefully suggested that it were "the mind of the Jews" that "rules the world, burns, destroys, starves, wages wars, organizes revolutions and coups, and establishes states within states."[194]
According to the Anti-Defamation League 71% of Turkish adults "harbor anti-Semitic views".[195]
Political Parties
On December 20, 2017, the Ötüken Union Party was founded. According to the party, in order to be considered a Turkish national, you need to have Turkish parents and Turkish as your native language. Alternatively, you should be so “awakened” that you have simply become aware of your innate “Turkishness” as any natural Turk. Has also announced plans stop the refugee influx, cancel the citizenships of those who have migrated to Turkey from abroad, to have "Turkish"-only soldiers and police officers, and to ban marriage to foreign citizens. Upon the possibility that it comes to power, it would only allow “pro-Turkish lawmakers”. In addition, the party has singled out Turks as a superior race and they mentioned that “Our holy mission is to raise our race to a higher point. The goal of the Turkish race is to have authority over the entire world”.[196]
See also
- Anti-Armenianism
- Antisemitism in Turkey
- Armenian Genocide
- Confiscated Armenian Properties in Turkey
- Dersim Massacre
- Environmental racism in Europe#Turkey
- Events of September 6–7, 1955
- Great Famine of Mount Lebanon
- Greek Genocide
- Human rights in Turkey
- Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey
- Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey
- Turkification
- Varlık Vergisi
- Zilan massacre
References
- "Khojali: A Pretext to Incite Ethnic Hatred". Armenian Weekly. 22 February 2015.
- Xypolia, Ilia (2016-02-18). "Racist Aspects of Modern Turkish Nationalism". Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies. 0 (2): 111–124. doi:10.1080/19448953.2016.1141580. hdl:2164/9172. ISSN 1944-8953.
- Björgo, ed. by Tore; Witte, Rob (1993). Racist violence in Europe. Basingstoke [etc.]: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9780312124090.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- Falk, ed. by Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat. Foreword by Richard (2007). Human rights in Turkey. Philadelphia, Pa.: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812240009.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- Lauren, Fulton (Spring 2008). "A Muted Controversy: Freedom of Speech in Turkey". Harvard International Review. 30 (1): 26–29. ISSN 0739-1854.
Free speech is now in a state reminiscent of the days before EU accession talks. Journalists or academics who speak out against state institutions are subject to prosecution under the aegis of loophole laws. Such laws are especially objectionable because they lead to a culture in which other, more physically apparent rights abuses become prevalent. Violations of freedom of expression can escalate into other rights abuses, including torture, racism, and other forms of discrimination. Because free speech is suppressed, the stories of these abuses then go unreported in what becomes a vicious cycle.
- Gooding, Emily (2011). Armchair Guide to Discrimination: Religious Discrimination in Turkey. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 9781241797812.
- Kenanoğlu, Pinar Dinç (2012). "Discrimination and silence: minority foundations in Turkey during the Cyprus conflict of 1974". Nations and Nationalism. 18 (2): 267–286. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8129.2011.00531.x.
Comprehensive reading of the newspaper articles show that the negative attitude towards the non-Muslim minorities in Turkey does not operate in a linear fashion. There are rises and falls, the targets can vary from individuals to institutions, and the agents of discrimination can be politicians, judicial offices, government-operated organisations, press members or simply individuals in society.
- Sule; Bulent, Toktas; Bulent. (Winter 2009). "The EU and Minority Rights in Turkey". Political Science Quarterly. 124 (4): 697–0_8. doi:10.1002/j.1538-165x.2009.tb00664.x. ISSN 0032-3195.
In the Turkish context, the solution to minority rights is to handle them through improvements in three realms: elimination of discrimination, cultural rights, and religious freedom. However, reforms in these spheres fall short of the spirit generated in the Treaty of Lausanne.
- "Palestinians Were Spared Turkey's Rising anti-Arab Hate. Until Now". Haaretz. 2019-07-16. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
- Tremblay, Pinar (2014-08-21). "Anti-Arab sentiment on rise in Turkey". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
- "Syrian refugees who were welcomed in Turkey now face backlash". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
- Halis, Mujgan (2013-11-13). "Anti-Syrian sentiment on the rise in Turkey". Al-Monitor (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-08-29.
- Icduygu, A., Toktas, S., & Soner, B. A. (2008). "The politics of population in a nation-building process: Emigration of non-Muslims from turkey." Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(2), 358–389.
- Özbek, Sinan (2005). "Reflections on Racism in Turkey". Human Affairs. 15 (1): 84–95. ISSN 1210-3055.
- Oran, Baskın (2006). Türkiye'de azınlıklar : kavramlar, teori, Lozan, iç mevzuat, içtihat, uygulama (in Turkish) (3. ed.). İstanbul: İletişim. ISBN 978-9750502996.
- Yegen, Mesut (Autumn 2009). ""Prospective-Turks" or "Pseudo-Citizens:" Kurds in Turkey". Middle East Journal. 63 (4): 597–615. doi:10.3751/63.4.14. ISSN 0026-3141.
- Okutan, Çağatay (2004). Tek Parti Döneminde Azınlık Politikaları. Istanbul: Bilgi Universitesi. ISBN 978-9758557776.
- Cooper; Akcam, Belinda; Taner (Fall 2005). "Turks, Armenians, and the "G-Word"". World Policy Journal. 22 (3): 81–93. doi:10.1215/07402775-2005-4009. ISSN 0740-2775.
- Kaya, Nurcan (2015). Kayacan, Gülay (ed.). Discrimination based on Colour, Ethnic Origin, Language, Religion and Belief in Turkey's Education System (PDF). Istanbul: Minority Rights Group International (MRG). ISBN 978-975-8813-78-0.
- "Education system in Turkey criticised for marginalising ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities". Minority Rights Group International. 27 October 2015.
- Handbook of the Human Rights Agenda Association on Hate Crimes in Turkey Archived 2012-02-27 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 14 October 2009
- Guler, Habib (October 17, 2012). "Commission head: Turkey needs new regulations against hate crime". Zaman. Ankara. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013.
- Şahan, İdil Engindeniz; Fırat, Derya; Şannan, Barış. "January-April 2014 Media Watch on Hate Speech and Discriminatory Language Report" (PDF). Hrant Dink Foundation.
- Baydar, Yavuz (12 January 2009). "Hate speech and racism: Turkey's 'untouchables'on the rise". Zaman. Archived from the original on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
- Hate speech and racism: Turkey’s ‘untouchables’ on the rise, August 30, 2010, Todayszaman "Hate speech and racism: Turkey's 'untouchables'on the rise". Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
- Cirakman, Asli (2011). "Flags and traitors: The advance of ethno-nationalism in the Turkish self-image". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 34 (11): 1894–1912. doi:10.1080/01419870.2011.556746. ISSN 0141-9870.
- "Chapter 2. How Muslims and Westerners View Each Other". PEW Research Center. 21 July 2011.
- First report of ECRI on Turkey (1999)
- "Turkish Interior Ministry confirms 'race codes' for minorities". Hurriyet.
- "Turkish youth overwhelmingly against 'other,' study says". Hürriyet Daily News.
- Levene, Mark (1998). "Creating a Modern 'Zone of Genocide': The Impact of Nation- and State-Formation on Eastern Anatolia, 1878-1923". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 12 (3): 393–433. doi:10.1093/hgs/12.3.393.
The persistence of genocide or near-genocidal incidents from the 1890s through the 1990s, committed by Ottoman and successor Turkish and Iraqi states against Armenian, Kurdish, Assyrian, and Pontic Greek communities in Eastern Anatolia, is striking. ... the creation of this "zone of genocide" in Eastern Anatolia cannot be understood in isolation, but only in light of the role played by the Great Powers in the emergence of a Western-led international system.
In the last hundred years, four Eastern Anatolian groups—Armenians, Kurds, Assyrians, and Greeks—have fallen victim to state-sponsored attempts by the Ottoman authorities or their Turkish or Iraqi successors to eradicate them. Because of space limitations, I have concentrated here on the genocidal sequence affecting Armenians and Kurds only, though my approach would also be pertinent to the Pontic Greek and Assyrian cases. - "Resmi raporlarda Dersim katliamı: 13 bin kişi öldürüldü", Radikal, November 19, 2009. (in Turkish)
- "The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) Page 4" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-21.
- David McDowall, A modern history of the Kurds, I.B.Tauris, 2002, ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0, p. 209.
- http://www.pen-kurd.org/almani/haydar/Dersim-PresseerklC3A4rungEnglish.pdf
- Christopher Houston, Islam, Kurds and the Turkish nation state, Berg Publishers, 2001, ISBN 978-1-85973-477-3, p. 102.
- Freedom of the Press, Freedom of the Press 2010 Draft Report, p. 2. (in English)
- Ahmet Alış, "The Process of the Politicization of the Kurdish Identity in Turkey: The Kurds and the Turkish Labor Party (1961–1971)", Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, Bosphorus University, p. 73. (in English)
- Altan Tan, Kürt sorunu, Timaş Yayınları, 2009, ISBN 978-975-263-884-6, p. 275. (in Turkish)
- Pınar Selek, Barışamadık, İthaki Yayınları, 2004, ISBN 978-975-8725-95-3, p. 109. (in Turkish)
- Osman Pamukoğlu, Unutulanlar dışında yeni bir şey yok: Hakkari ve Kuzey Irak dağlarındaki askerler, Harmoni Yayıncılık, 2003, ISBN 975-6340-00-2, p. 16. (in Turkish)
- Yusuf Mazhar, Cumhuriyet, 16 Temmuz 1930, ... Zilan harekatında imha edilenlerin sayısı 15.000 kadardır. Zilan Deresi ağzına kadar ceset dolmuştur... (in Turkish)
- Ahmet Kahraman, ibid, p. 211, Karaköse, 14 (Özel muhabirimiz bildiriyor) ... (in Turkish)
- Ayşe Hür, "Osmanlı'dan bugüne Kürtler ve Devlet-4" Archived 2011-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, Taraf, October 23, 2008, Retrieved August 16, 2010. (in Turkish)
- Ayşe Hür, "Bu kaçıncı isyan, bu kaçıncı harekât?" Archived 2012-09-18 at the Wayback Machine, Taraf, December 23, 2007, Retrieved August 16, 2010. (in Turkish)
- Paul J. White, ibid, p. 79. (in English)
- The Turkish crime of our century, Asia Minor Refugees Coordination Committee, p. 14. (in English)
- Turkish text: Bu ülkede sadece Türk ulusu etnik ve ırksal haklar talep etme hakkına sahiptir. Başka hiç kimsenin böyle bir hakkı yoktur. Aslı astarı olmayan propagandalara kanmış, aldanmış, neticede yollarını şaşırmış Doğu Türkleridir., Vahap Coşkun, "Anayasal Vatandaşlık", Köprü dergisi, Kış 2009, 105. Sayı. (in Turkish)
- "Turkey - Linguistic and Ethnic Groups". countrystudies.us.
- Bartkus, Viva Ona, The Dynamic of Secession, (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 90-91.
- Çelik, Yasemin (1999). Contemporary Turkish foreign policy (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn.: Praeger. p. 3. ISBN 9780275965907.
- Schleifer, Yigal (2005-05-12). "Opened with a flourish, Turkey's Kurdish-language schools fold". Christian Science Monitor.
- Kanat, Kilic; Tekelioglu, Ahmet; Ustun, Kadir (2015). Politics and Foreign Policy in Turkey: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Washington D.C.: The SETA Foundation. pp. 32–5. ISBN 978-6054023547.
- "Kurdish to be offered as elective course at universities". Today's Zaman. 2009-01-06.
- "Class time for a 'foreign language' in Turkey". Hurriyet Daily News. 2010-10-12.
- "First undergrad Kurdish department opens in SE". Hurriyet Daily News. 2011-09-24. Archived from the original on 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
- Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Kurds, Turkey: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.
- Toumani, Meline. Minority Rules, New York Times, 17 February 2008
- Aslan, Senem (2014). Nation-Building in Turkey and Morocco: Governing Kurdish and Berber Dissent. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1316194904.
- Meho, Lokman I (2004). "Congressional Record". The Kurdish Question in U.S. Foreign Policy: A Documentary Sourcebook. Praeger/Greenwood. p. 400. ISBN 978-0-313-31435-3.
- "Kurds in Turkey increasingly subject to violent hate crimes". DW. 22 October 2019. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
- Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove; Fernandes, Desmond (April 2008). "Kurds in Turkey and in (Iraqi) Kurdistan: a Comparison of Kurdish Educational Language Policy in Two Situations of Occupation". Genocide Studies and Prevention. 3: 43–73. doi:10.3138/gsp.3.1.43.
- "Gomidas Institute". www.gomidas.org.
- "Turkish TV cuts politician during speech in Kurdish". CNN. February 24, 2009.
- "Turkey allows Kurdish language in courts". Deutsche Welle. 2013-01-25.
- Geerdink, Fréderike (2013-01-24). "Kurdish permitted in Turkish courts". Journalists in Turkey. Archived from the original on 2013-03-23. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
- Butler, Daren (2013-01-25). "Turkey approves court reform, Kurds remain critical". Reuters.
- "Scuffles at Parliament over defense in Kurdish". Hürriyet Daily News. 2013-01-23.
- "EU Official Welcomes Use Of Mother Tongue In Court". haberler.com. 2013-01-30.
- "Gov't move for delivery of sermons in local language receives applause". Today's Zaman. 2013-02-18. Archived from the original on 2013-03-06.
- Hovannisian, Richard G. (2011). The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies. Transaction Publishers. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-4128-3592-3.
In it, Muslims had full legal and social rights, while non-Muslim "people of the book," that is, Jews and Christians, had a second-class subject status that entailed, among other things, higher taxes, exclusion from the military and political spheres, and strict limitations on legal rights.
- "Communal Violence: The Armenians and the Copts as Case Studies," by Margaret J. Wyszomirsky, World Politics, Vol. 27, No. 3 (April 1975), p. 438
- Akçam, Taner (2006) A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility p. 42, Metropolitan Books, New York ISBN 978-0-8050-7932-6
- Hamidian Massacres, Armenian Genocide.
- Raymond H. Kévorkian, "The Cilician Massacres, April 1909" in Armenian Cilicia, eds. Richard G. Hovannisian and Simon Payaslian. UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, 7. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2008, pp. 339-69.
- Adalian, Rouben Paul (2012). "The Armenian Genocide". In Totten, Samuel; Parsons, William S. (eds.). Century of Genocide. Routledge. pp. 117–56. ISBN 978-0-415-87191-4.
- Adalian, Rouben Paul (2010). "Adana Massacre". Historical Dictionary of Armenia. Scarecrow Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-0-8108-7450-3.
- Levon Marashlian. Politics and Demography: Armenians, Turks, and Kurds in the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Zoryan Institute, 1991.
- Samuel Totten, Paul Robert Bartrop, Steven L. Jacobs (eds.) Dictionary of Genocide. Greenwood Publishing, 2008, ISBN 0-313-34642-9, p. 19.
- Noël, Lise. Intolerance: A General Survey. Arnold Bennett, 1994, ISBN 0-7735-1187-3, p. 101.
- Schaefer, Richard T (2008), Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, p. 90.
- Letter from the International Association of Genocide Scholars to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, June 13, 2005
- Melkonyan, Ruben. "ON SOME PROBLEMS OF THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL MINORITY IN TURKEY" (PDF). p. 2.
- Güven, Dilek (2005-09-06). "6-7 Eylül Olayları (1)". Radikal (in Turkish).
Nitekim 1942 yılında yürürlüğe giren Varlık Vergisi, Ermenilerin, Rumların ve Yahudilerin ekonomideki liderliğine son vermeyi hedeflemiştir...Seçim dönemleri CHP ve DP'nin Varlık Vergisi'nin geri ödeneceği yönündeki vaatleri ise seçim propagandasından ibarettir.
- Smith, Thomas W. (August 29, 2001). "Constructing A Human Rights Regime in Turkey: Dilemmas of Civic Nationalism and Civil Society" (PDF). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 18, 2003.
One of the darkest events in Turkish history was the Wealth Tax, levied discriminatory against non-Muslims in 1942, hobbling Armenians with the most punitive rates.
- "Minority Rights Group, Turkey > Armenians". Archived from the original on 2015-05-08.
- Marchand, Laure; Perrier, Guillaume (2015). Turkey and the Armenian Ghost: On the Trail of the Genocide. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-7735-9720-4.
- Özdoğan, Günay Göksu; Kılıçdağı, Ohannes (2012). Hearing Turkey's Armenians: Issues, Demands and Policy Recommendations (PDF). İstanbul: Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). p. 26. ISBN 978-605-5332-01-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
- Yilmaz, Mehmet (26 March 2015). "Armenian as an 'insult'". Today's Zaman.
- Aghajanian, Liana (2 February 2012). "Under Hrant Dink's Aura, a Turkish-Armenian Community Comes Into Its Own". Ararat. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- Tremblay, Pinar (11 October 2015). "Grew up Kurdish, forced to be Turkish, now called Armenian". Al-Monitor.
- Dink, Hrant (2004-02-06). "Sabiha Hatun'un Sırrı". Agos.
- "Sabiha Gökçen or Hatun Sebilciyan?". Hürriyet. 2004-02-21.
- Kalkan, Ersin (2004-02-21). "Sabiha Gökçen mi Hatun Sebilciyan mı?". Hürriyet (in Turkish).
- Cable reference id: #04ISTANBUL374. 10 March 2004.
- "Egoyan award winning film not shown yet in Turkey". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2008-02-02.
- Gray Wolves Spoil Turkey's Publicity Ploy on Ararat
- Ülkü Ocaklari: Ararat Yayinlanamaz (in Turkish)
- Ülkü Ocaklari: ARARAT'I Cesaretiniz Varsa Yayinlayin ! (in Turkish)
- Hofmann, Tessa (2002). Armenians in Turkey Today: A Critical Assessment of the Situation of the Armenian Minority in the Turkish Republic (PDF). Brussels: The EU Office of Armenian Associations of Europe.
- "Samast'a jandarma karakolunda kahraman muamelesi". Radikal (in Turkish). 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 5 February 2007.
- Watson, Ivan (12 January 2012). "Turkey remembers murdered journalist". CNN.
- Harvey, Benjamin (2007-01-24). "Suspect in Journalist Death Makes Threat". The Guardian. London. Associated Press.
- "Turkish-Armenian writer shot dead". BBC News. 2007-01-19. Archived from the original on 4 February 2007.
- Robert Mahoney (2006-06-15). "Bad blood in Turkey" (PDF). Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2007.
- "IPI Deplores Callous Murder of Journalist in Istanbul". International Press Institute. 2007-01-22. Archived from the original on 3 March 2007.
- Committee to Protect Journalists (2007-01-19). "Turkish-Armenian editor murdered in Istanbul". Archived from the original on 25 January 2007.
Dink had received numerous death threats from nationalist Turks who viewed his iconoclastic journalism, particularly on the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century, as an act of treachery.
- Schrodt, Nikolaus (2014). Modern Turkey and the Armenian Genocide: An Argument About the Meaning of the Past. Springer. p. 10. ISBN 978-3-319-04927-4.
- "CHP deputy Arıtman unapologetic as Gül denies Armenian roots". Today's Zaman. 22 December 2008. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
- Bekdil, Burak. "How Turkish are the Turks?". Hurriyet.
- "11-Month Prison Sentence for 'Gul is Armenian' Comment". Armenian Weekly. November 6, 2010.
- "Haberin Yeri Site Kurucusu Büyükçakır'a 11 Ay Hapis". Bianet (in Turkish). 4 November 2010.
- "Turkish Journalist, Publisher Receive 11-Month Prison Sentence for Calling Gul Armenian". Asbarez. November 7, 2010.
- "Turkish police uncover arms cache, The Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2009".
- "E.I.R. GmbH: Aktuelle Meldungen". news.eirna.com.
- Montgomery, Devin (2008-07-12). "Turkey arrests two ex-generals for alleged coup plot". JURIST.
- Cengiz, Orhan Kemal (10 December 2010). "'Armenian dogs support Beşiktaş' they say, but…". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
- Kerpiççiler, Cem (9 June 2013). "Canlı yayında cacık yaparsan taraftarı anlayamazsın!" (in Turkish). Posta.
- Bir, Ali Atif (7 December 2010). "İğrenç slogan: "Ermeni köpekler, Beşiktaş'ı destek". Bugün. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
- "Armenian private killed intentionally, new testimony shows". Today's Zaman. 2012-01-27.
- "Halavurt: "Sevag 24 Nisan'da Planlı Şekilde Öldürülmüş Olabilir"". Bianet (in Turkish). May 4, 2011.
:Translated from Turkish: "On May 1, 2011, after investigating into the background of the suspect, we discovered that he was a sympathizer of the BBP. We also have encountered nationalist themes in his social networks. For example, Muhsin Yazicioglu and Abdullah Catli photos were present" according to Balikci lawyer Halavurt.
- "Sevag Şahin'i vuran asker BBP'li miydi?" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2011-08-31.
- "Title translated from Turkish: What Happened to Sevag Balikci?". Radikal (in Turkish).
Translated from Turkish: "We discovered that he was a sympathizer of the BBP. We also have encountered nationalist themes in his social networks. For example, Muhsin Yazicioglu and Abdullah Catli photos were present" according to Balikci lawyer Halavurt."
- "Sevag'ın Ölümünde Şüpheler Artıyor". Nor Zartonk (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2013-04-15.
Title translated from Turkish: Doubts emerge on the death of Sevag
- "Fiancé of Armenian soldier killed in Turkish army testifies before court". News.am. Archived from the original on 2013-01-30.
- "Nişanlıdan 'Ermenilerle savaşırsak ilk seni öldürürüm' iddiası". Sabah (in Turkish). 2012-04-06.
Title Translated from Turkish: From the fiance: If we were to go to war with Armenia, I would kill you first"
- Güneş, Deniz (20 February 2015). "İHD, İstanbul Valiliği'ni ırkçılığa karşı göreve davet etti" (in Turkish). Demokrat Haber.
- "İHD: Mitingin amacı ırkçı nefreti kışkırtmaktır". Yüksekova Haber. 20 February 2015.
- "Azeris mark 20th anniversary of Khojaly Massacre in Istanbul". Hurriyet. February 26, 2012.
One banner carried by dozens of protestors said, “You are all Armenians, you are all bastards.”
- "Inciting Hatred: Turkish Protesters Call Armenians 'Bastards'". Asbarez. February 28, 2012.
‘Mount Ararat will Become Your Grave’ Chant Turkish Students
- "Khojaly Massacre Protests gone wrong in Istanbul: ' You are all Armenian, you are all bastards '". National Turk. 28 February 2012.
- "Protests in Istanbul: "You are all Armenian, you are all bastards"". LBC International. 2012-02-26.
- "Ultra-nationalist group targets Turkey's Armenians". Zaman. 28 November 2012.
- "Agos'un önünde ırkçı eylem (English: In front of Agos a racist act)". BirGun. 23 February 2014. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014.
- "EMO İstanbul Seçimlerinde faşist provokasyon". Turnusol (in Turkish). 23 February 2014.
- Altintas, Baris (6 August 2014). "PM uses offensive, racist language targeting Armenians". Zaman.
- Taylor, Adam (6 August 2014). "Is 'Armenian' an insult? Turkey's prime minister seems to think so". Washington Post.
- "Turkey's Erdogan accused of inciting racial hatred for comment on Armenian descent". The Republic. 6 August 2014. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014.
- Barsoumian, Nanore (23 February 2015). "Banners Celebrating Genocide Displayed in Turkey". Armenian Weekly.
- "İHD: Hocalı mitinginin amacı ırkçı nefreti kışkırtmak". IMC. 20 February 2015. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015.
- Gunes, Deniz (20 February 2015). "Kadıköy esnafına ırkçı bildiri dağıtıldı" (in Turkish). Demokrat Haber. Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- "İHD: Mitingin amacı ırkçı nefreti kışkırtmaktır" (in Turkish). Yüksekova Haber. 20 February 2015.
- "Khojali: A Pretext to Incite Ethnic Hatred". Armenian Weekly. 22 February 2015.
- "Irkçı afişte 1915 itirafı!". Demokrat Haber (in Turkish). 23 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- "Ankara mayor files complaint against journalist for calling him 'Armenian'". Today's Zaman. 24 March 2015.
- "Columnist faces court for insulting Ankara mayor by calling him 'Armenian'". Today's Zaman. 27 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
- "Armenian-origin columnist fined for 'insulting' Ankara mayor - Turkey News". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
- Karatas, Zeynep (25 March 2015). "İstanbul-based Armenian church daubed with hate messages". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
- "Journalists, Armenians, gays are 'representatives of sedition,' Erdoğan says". Hürriyet. 3 June 2015.
- "Ülkücü başkan coştu: "Sokaklarda Ermeni avına mı çıkalım?"" (in Turkish). Birgun. 24 June 2015.
Yoksa bizler de Kars caddelerinde Ermeni avına mı çıkalım?
- Kursun, Gunal (9 July 2015). "Textbook examples of hate crimes, hate speech and racism in Turkey". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- Cengiz, Orhan Kemal (7 July 2015). "Hate speech freely targets Armenians". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- "'PKK'lıların hepsi Ermeni!'" (in Turkish). Sabah. 2 September 2015.
Bu PKK'lıların hepsi Ermeni, kendilerini saklıyorlar. Ben Kürdüm, Müslümanım ama ben Ermeni değilim. Ermenilerin sonu gelecek. Allah'ın izniyle sizin sonunuzu getireceğiz. Ne etseniz boş ey Ermeniler, biz sizi biliyoruz. Ne yapsanız boş Ermeniler
- "Unearthing the past, endangering the future". Economist. 18 October 2007.
- Kivanc, Umit (10 September 2015). "Bildiklerimiz, bilmediklerimiz". Radikal.
- "Impressions from Cizre: 'There is no PKK here, we are the people and we defend ourselves'". Sendika. 18 September 2015.
- "Polis, Cizre'de halka böyle seslendi: Hepiniz Ermenisiniz". Cumhurriyet. 11 September 2015.
- "Cizre "The Curfew" Report" (PDF). European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights.
- "Armenian-Populated Districts of Istanbul Attacked". Asbarez. 9 September 2015.
- "Kurdish Mayor of Igdir Installs 'Welcome' Sign in Armenian". Asbarez. 22 September 2015.
- "İlçe girişindeki Ermenice yazıyı tahrip ettiler" (in Turkish). CNN Turk. 12 October 2015.
- "Iğdır'ın Tuzluca ilçesindeki Ermenice tabelalar kaldırıldı". Ermeni Haber. 21 June 2016.
- "çArşı'dan ırkçılığa karşı mesaj" (in Turkish). Demokrat Haber. 22 January 2016.
- "Selina Doğan'dan Aras Özbiliz'e tepki gösterenlere: Lefter de bir Rumdu!" (in Turkish). Demokrat Haber. 21 January 2016.
- Bulut, Uzay (5 April 2016). "Turkish Mayor: Our 'Glorious Ancestors Extirpated Armenians'". Clarion Project.
- "Kurtuluş töreninde canlandırılan Ermeni katliamı çocukları korkuttu" (in Turkish). Dogan Haber Ajansi. 3 March 2016.
- Racist graffiti inscribed on Kadıköy church wall
- Aprim, Frederick A. (2006). Assyrians : from Bedr Khan to Saddam Hussein : driving into extinction the last Aramaic speakers (2. ed.). [United States]: F.A. Aprim. ISBN 9781425712990.
- Hovanissian, Richard (2007). The Armenian genocide : cultural and ethical legacies (2. print. ed.). New Brunswick (N.J.): Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412806190.
- Travis, Hannibal. Genocide in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire, Iraq, and Sudan. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2010, 2007, pp. 237-77, 293–294.
- Gaunt, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors, pp. 21-28, 300-3, 406, 435.
- Sonyel, Salahi R. (2001). The Assyrians of Turkey victims of major power policy. Ankara: Turkish historical Society. ISBN 9789751612960.
- J. Joseph, Muslim-Christian relations and Inter-Christian rivalries in the Middle East, Albany, 1983, p.102.
- H.Soysü, Kavimler Kapisi-1, Kaynak Yayınları, Istanbul, 1992.p.81.
- Vryonis, Speros (2005). The Mechanism of Catastrophe: The Turkish Pogrom of September 6–7, 1955, and the Destruction of the Greek Community of Istanbul. New York: Greekworks.com, Inc. ISBN 978-0-9747660-3-4.
- Güven, Dilek (2005-09-06). "6–7 Eylül Olayları (1)". Radikal (in Turkish).
- http://www.demography-lab.prd.uth.gr/DDAoG/article/cont/ergasies/tsilenis.htm
- Kilic, Ecevit (2008-09-07). "Sermaye nasıl el değiştirdi?". Sabah (in Turkish).
6-7 Eylül olaylarından önce İstanbul'da 135 bin Rum yaşıyordu. Sonrasında bu sayı 70 bine düştü. 1978'e gelindiğinde bu rakam 7 bindi.
- "Turkey 2007 Progress Report, Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2007–2008" (PDF). Commission Stuff Working Document of International Affairs. p. 22.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Kurban, Hatem, 2009: p. 48
- Kurban, Hatem, 2009: p. 33
- Benbassa, Esther; Rodrigue, Aron (1999). Sephardi Jewry: a history of the Judeo-Spanish community, 14th--20th centuries (1. California paperback ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520218222.
- "New Trial Ordered for Nine Constantinople Jews Once Acquitted". Jewish News Archive. January 16, 1928.
- "Turkish Jewry Agitated Over Murder Case". Canadian Jewish Review. October 7, 1927. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013.
- Kalderon, Albert E. (1983). Abraham Galanté : a biography. New York: Published by Sepher-Hermon Press for Sephardic House at Congregation Shearith Israel. p. 53. ISBN 9780872031111.
- "TURKEY: Notes, Aug. 29, 1927". Time. August 29, 1927.
- Çağatay, Soner 2002 'Kemalist dönemde göç ve iskan politikaları: Türk kimliği üzerine bir çalışma' (Policies of migration and settlement in the Kemalist era: a study on Turkish identity), Toplum ve Bilim, no. 93, pp. 218-41.
- Levi, Avner. 1998. Turkiye Cumhuriyetinde Yahudiler (Jews in the Republic of Turkey), Istanbul: Iletisim Yayınları
- Karabatak, Haluk 1996 ‘Turkiye azınlık tarihine bir katkı: 1934 Trakya olayları ve Yahudiler’ (A contribution to the history of minorities in Turkey: the 1934 Thracian affair and the Jews), Tarih ve Toplum, vol. 146, pp. 68-80.
- Helicke, James C. (15 November 2003). "Dozens killed as suicide bombers target Istanbul synagogues". The Independent. London.
- Arsu, Sebnem; Filkins, Dexter (16 November 2003). "20 in Istanbul Die in Bombings At Synagogues". The New York Times.
- Reeves, Phil (20 August 2002). "Mystery surrounds 'suicide' of Abu Nidal, once a ruthless killer and face of terror". The Independent. London.
- "Bombings at Istanbul Synagogues Kill 23". Fox News. 16 November 2003. Archived from the original on 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2013-01-03.
- "Unraveling the AKP's 'Mastermind' conspiracy theory". Al-Monitor. 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
- "There's a new bogeyman in Turkey, and, for a change, he's not a Jew".
- First racist political party founded in Turkey in 2017, Turks presented as ‘superior race’
External links
- European Commission against Racism and Intolerance reports on Turkey
- Hate Crimes in Turkey; Documentation prepared by the Democratic Turkey Forum, cases between 2007 and 2009]
- US Department of State: Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (country reports)
- European Commission for Enlargement
- Progress Reports on Turkey (1998 - 2005)
- Progress Report 2009
- Turkey Press Freedom Website covering press freedom situation in Turkey by SEEMO
- Human Rights Watch Reports on Turkey
- Amnesty International Library you can search for Reports on Turkey
- Reports and Investigations of Mazlumder about Turkish Human Rights
- Questions and Answers; Human Rights in Turkey, Human Rights Agenda Association
- Database on Refugee Rights in Turkey
- Hate Crimes in Turkey; Documentation prepared by the Democratic Turkey Forum, cases between 2007 and 2009