Epress.am News from Armenia
The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), which sponsored a two-day conference Friday and Saturday on developing participatory democracy in Turkey, has shared the group’s findings regarding discrimination against Turkey’s Armenian community, reports Today’s Zaman.
On Saturday TESEV announced the findings contained its report titled “Türkiye Ermenilerini Duymak” (Hearing the Armenians of Turkey). The report said the Armenian identity and culture in Turkey should be protected as per the provisions of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923.
The report stated that the Constitution should not include any ethnic references when defining citizenship. TESEV also said that provisions criminalizing “insulting the Turkish identity” should be revised to include the same sensitivity toward other national identities as well. When taking the “government is there for society” principle into consideration, there are needs for these amendments to the constitution, based on fundamental rights and freedoms, said the report.
The report also said protecting the diverse cultures, languages and lifestyles of the citizens of Turkey should be listed among the primary duties of the state. The association also included a number of suggestions to protect Armenian culture, such as granting special status to Armenian and other minority schools, preparing Armenian textbooks, training educators of Armenian descent, government financing of teacher salaries, having sufficient Armenian language and literature courses in universities and supporting activities such as Armenian radio broadcasting and Armenian theaters.
The report stated the importance of equality in educating clerics and management of places of worship. It said the Surp Haç Tıbrevank Armenian School should be allowed to train its own clerics.