Oral Statement: Human Rights Council, 15th Session - Item 6: Consideration of the UPR report on Turkey
Oral Statement by the Syriac Universal Alliance: Human Rights Related Comments on Turkey’s UPR Report by the Christian Aramean (Syriac) Indigenous People of Turkey
Thank you, Mr. President.
Your Excellency,
Distinguished Delegates,
The Syriac Universal Alliance represents the indigenous Aramean (also known as Syriac) people of Turkey.
We are thankful to the Human Rights Council and Mr. President for giving marginalized people like the Arameans a voice at this significant interactive dialogue.
Currently, we can only very briefly mention a few of our thoughts expressed in our written statement which is entitled: human rights related comments on Turkey’s UPR Report by the Christian Aramean (Syriac) Indigenous People of Turkey.
We cordially invite Turkey to take cognizance of our document and we are looking forward to start a constructive dialogue with its Government on critical issues that need to be addressed both by Turkey and the international community.
We appreciate the report’s recommendations regarding human rights, minority rights, anti-discriminatory measures and legislation to ensure equality. We also welcome Turkey’s cooperation and replies. Yet we wish to stress that still much more work can and should be done by the Turkish State in these key areas.
For example, Turkey restricts equality, non-discrimination and human rights aspects to individuals only. Issues of group rights are usually circumvented and misrepresented.
Turkey continues to deny the official existence of the Arameans, unlike the Armenians, Greeks and Jews. Hence we invite Turkey to offer a rational explanation of this unjust and unreasonable fact.
We regret the fact that recently, on 12 September, Turkey missed the historic opportunity to modernize its outdated concept of ‘minorities’ in its constitutional amendments and align its constitution with international standards.
Unfortunately, the report disregards the ongoing expropriation of at least 10 million square meters of Aramean land by the Turkish State and Kurdish tribes who occupied Aramean territories. Earlier this year, this fact has been condemned by Resolution 1704 adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Finally, Turkey’s past and present actions show that we have to bear in mind that what is written on paper is not always reflected in reality, despite lofty words to the contrary about Turkey’s reform packages in political arenas where the voice of the people on the ground is rarely faithfully represented. This is especially true in the case of the Arameans in Turkey.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Simon Marogi
UN NGO Delegate
Syriac Universal Alliance
