The Human Rights Action Plan and the Representation of Turkey’s Non-Muslim Minorities

Abstract

In March 2021, Turkey’s president announced a new Human Rights Action Plan (HRAP), supported by the Council of Europe, to reform the judiciary system and strengthen democratic participation. Although the human rights claims of Kurds and Alevis have been prominent, the HRAP mentions neither by name. Instead, it includes articles about improving the rights of religious minorities by fighting discrimination and hate and to advance pluralism, revising the Foundations Law regarding the establishment and election of boards of directors of non-Muslim community associations, and providing leave for religious holidays regardless of faith. Given the current distrust between non-Muslim groups and the Turkish state, this study analysed the political attitudes of Turkey’s non-Muslim minorities to understand how they develop creative solutions to protect their rights. To do so, we interviewed Armenian deputies in Turkey’s parliament and prominent figures from the Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish communities, and also reviewed in-depth the minority deputies’ parliamentary work between 2015 and 2021. We found that the HRAP was widely discussed by both minority and opposition parliamentary deputies. However, they did not strongly welcome any of its provisions because the government had previously ignored or delayed their demands. As a result, while the new foundations law announced in June 2022 created hope for democratic representation, the law also reflects the Turkish state's historical distrust of minorities, and with its constraints on election districts the process turned to a bittersweet joy. © 2023, European Centre for Minority Issues. All rights reserved.