President Gul and Turkey’s Assyrian Question

ORİJİNAL  YAZIYI TÜRKÇE OKUYABİLİRSİNİZ
4/4/13

Turkish President Abdullah Gul is someone I admire. He has been “an island of  prudence” for the country during the grim period we have been going through. But  I was seriously disappointed with his visit to Sweden, to which he took the  acting Assyrian Orthodox Patriarch, Yusuf Cetin.
During the visit, an Assyrian member of the Swedish parliament, Yilmaz  Kerimo, took the floor and made the following remarks in Turkish: “The Mor  Gabriel monastery in Mardin is under occupation. Some churches, among them Hagia  Sophia, have been turned to mosques. The Assyrians are not recognized as a minority and cannot benefit from any  rights; they cannot learn their language at school.”

Here is how Gul answered: “There were some problems in the past. But,  frankly, I cannot agree that all you say is true.”

Kerimo’s remarks, however, were perfectly accurate. Let’s take a look at all  the points in question:

1. Gul says, “Our Assyrian citizens do not have minority status under the Lausanne Treaty [Turkey’s founding document].” Ever since  1994, I’ve been writing that the Lausanne Treaty defines the minorities only as “non-Muslims.” The related Article 143 mentions no minority group by name. The  argument that only Greeks, Armenians and Jews were considered minorities is a  gross lie fabricated by the Turkish nation-state aimed at downsizing the  minorities.

“Letter of forfeit” myth

2. Gul says, “Those designated as minorities in the Lausanne Treaty were  determined on a voluntary basis at the time.” This is to be found nowhere in the  treaty. Gul implies that “the Assyrians forfeited their rights under the  Lausanne Treaty,” an argument which is nothing more than an urban legend. The  only “document” on the issue is a newspaper report, published in the Feb. 9,  1923, issue of the daily Ileri.

The Assyrian Orthodox Patriarchate was based in Mardin at  the time. During a visit to Ankara, Patriarch Ilyas Sakir III said that they “do  not want minority rights.”

Here is the reason for those remarks: Western countries wanted to create a  Great Armenia to serve as a buffer between them and Communist Russia, and during  the 1919 Paris Peace Conference they completely ignored the unassuming  Assyrians, who have never had a state throughout history. The Assyrians were  left with no other option but to count on the “tolerance” of the Turks, just as  they had done since 1071 and continue to do now.

So, what happened as a result? When Ilyas Sakir died in 1932, we exiled the  patriarchate to Homs in Syria. And the current situation? We do not allow those  people to open schools under Article 40 of the Lausanne Treaty; they cannot  teach their language to their children.

Let us pause for a moment here and imagine that a meticulous historian  produces a “letter of forfeit” signed and stamped by Ilyas Sakir III. It would  be meaningless because:

First of all, ever since the time of English philosopher Thomas Hobbes  (1588–1679), minority rights are rights “granted to the individual to be used  collectively.” It is impossible under international law for community leaders to  forfeit those rights on behalf of individuals.

Second, the Lausanne Treaty is an international agreement signed by eight  countries and cannot be changed with press remarks made by a spiritual leader.  Moreover, Article 37 stipulates that clauses about the protection of minorities  amount to a basic law and cannot be amended through laws.

Third, the Turkish state had initially accepted that because the Assyrian  minority schools in Mardin continued to function until 1928, when they were  closed under the pretext of the unification of education. Moreover, Assyrian  minority foundations were formally recognized when they were included on the  list that accompanied the cabinet decree of Jan. 24, 2003.

Then how come these myths are still being perpetuated? Firstly, the  Assyrians are a very quiet people. Second, our nation has a tradition of making  people “surrender” just as it makes people “confess” in police stations. Under  Article 42.1 of the Lausanne Treaty, for instance, “The family law of minorities  is implemented in line with their traditions and customs.” But when the Civil  Code was legislated in 1926, our state created a commission, and its Armenian  and Greek members who spoke against forfeiting their rights were detained and  kept in custody until a “proper” decision was made. This is how non-Muslims “formally forfeited” their rights under Article 42.1 and gave up church  marriages.

I regret to say something even grimmer: Last year we did not exhibit any  shame in “formally” ridiculing those Assyrian citizens. They had submitted an  application in Istanbul for their schooling right under Article 40 of the  Lausanne Treaty. The reply they received on July 26, 2012, said: “You are not a  minority but a principal component [of the nation]. Since you are not a  minority, you cannot teach in a foreign language in the kindergarten you want to open.” (Sabro  newspaper, Sept. 7, 2012)

Usurpation of monastery land

3. Gul further says, “The Mor Gabriel Church is not under occupation. It remains open.  There is a dispute related only to surrounding land. And the lawsuit on the  issue will undoubtedly be resolved under the principle of the rule of law.”

I’ve written repeatedly on this issue as well. In 2009, the treasury opened a  lawsuit over lands registered under the monastery’s proprietorship, however, the  court in Midyat rejected the claims. The treasury then went to the Appeals  Court, which ruled in favor of the treasury in 2010, on grounds there were no  documents to certify the monastery’s proprietorship. The monastery, however, had  presented tax payment records of many years to the court in Midyat. While the  mystery over the ruling lingered, it emerged that those tax records were absent  from the file at the Appeals Court! The Monastery Foundation lodged an appeal,  but this merely resulted in rejection!

The number of court cases launched against the Assyrians has now exceeded  300 in the area, where Suleyman Celebi, a parliament member from the Justice and  Development Party (AKP), is a clan leader, and has a son heading the local  [government-armed] village guard. Kurdish villagers are first occupying  monastery land and are then filing lawsuits. In the meantime, they are also  tipping off the authorities: “They [the Assyrians] are inciting and agitating  the people. They are carrying out all kind of activities to destroy the spirit  of national unity and togetherness. Money of unknown origin is flowing here.” Celebi is known also for having said that the thousands of Assyrians who had  emigrated from the region did so “for their own pleasure.”

4. Gul also says, “If you go to Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia museum is open for  everybody to tour. It is the first time I hear [that churches have been turned  to mosques].” Kerimo, however, refers to something else. When the Hagia Sophia  in Iznik was re-opened as a mosque in 2011, the head of the Foundations  Directorate, Adnan Ertem, said, “The small Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has been  re-opened to worship, and this one is now being re-opened, too.” That edifice is  now called “the Hagia Sophia (Orhan) Mosque.”

Kerimo refers also to what Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said in July  2012: “During the last Eid al-Adha, we opened the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Iznik  to worship. Our second good news is, God willing, the re-opening of the Hagia  Sophia Mosque in Trabzon.” Kerimo refers also to the deputy chairman of  parliament’s appeals commission, Halil Urun, who said that a significant number  of the petitions they received concerned the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul and  that “Hagia Sophia should be definitely opened to [Muslim] worship. This is the  desire of 75 million people.”

Lastly, President Gul said, “Come to Turkey to see your lands and spend your holidays  there. Everyone should take care of their properties.” But what if those  properties have been occupied for years by village guards? Who is going to  remove them from those properties? Can the Assyrians do that when their lands  are still being seized by the treasury on the one hand and by Kurdish villagers  on the other?

Gul may be a true statesman, but I wish someone had briefed him on those  issues before he went to Sweden.

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