Language Research

7. International treaties: Did the country ratify any international treaty dealing with the protection of minorities?

It is useful to mention the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Turkey has ratified with reservations. It stipulates that: “States agree that the education of the child shall be directed to the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values...”

Updated (March 2008)

WILL TURKEY SIGN THE MINORITY RIGHTS AGREEMENTS?

Turkey considers signing the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, said Zekeriya Sarbak, deputy undersecretary for local and regional authorities of the Ministry of Interior at the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe in Malaga.

The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, signed by the member states of the Council of Europe in 1995, seeks to promote the full and effective equality of national minorities. It sets out principles in the sphere of public life, such as freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and access to the media, as well as in the sphere of freedoms relating to language, education and trans-border cooperation.

The Council of Europe has called on Turkey to improve the rights of minorities and to sign both the documents. In November 2007, the Council recommended that Turkish authorities should allow municipal councils to use languages other than Turkish in the provision of public services when appropriate, and to sign and ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The Foreign Ministry believes signing the Charter and the Framework Convention has positive as well as negative implications. Hence, the ministry's bureaucracy did not give the government a clear-cut opinion on the issue, leaving the decision to the politicians. “The commitments which will come around if we become a party to the Conventions might go beyond Turkey's current policies on minorities,” said a Turkish official to the Turkish Daily News, referring to the French constitutional court's decision to rule against ratifying the Charter on grounds that the country adopted a constitutional citizenship principle. The ministry is not aware whether there is such a preparation by the government.

Source: Turkish Daily News, News, March 15, 2008 http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=99061