TURKEY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993

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From: newsdesk_aps_nl at apsf.aps.nl (newsdesk at aps.nl)
Subject: TURKEY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993   PART 7C


TURKEY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993   part 7c

Source:  U.S.  Department of State


From: kendal at nucst9.neep.wisc.edu (Kendal)
Date: 4 Feb 1994 21:48:27 GMT
Distribution: world



     Children

The Government is committed to furthering children's welfare
and is working to expand opportunities in education and health,
including further reduction of the infant mortality rate.

Turkey's children have suffered greatly from the cycle of
violence in southeastern Anatolia.  School closings and the
decision by many families to move westward, be it for economic
reasons or to escape the violence, have uprooted children to
cities which are hard pressed to find the resources to extend
basic, mandatory services, such as schooling.  The Government
is exploring the possibility of establishing regional boarding
schools to help combat this problem.  Although primary
schooling is mandatory, many young children, ages 9 to 12, can
be seen on the streets hawking goods or shining shoes (see
Section 6.d.).

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Ethnic and religious minorities face various forms of societal
discrimination.  The minority of Turkish Kurds who were
long-term residents in industrialized cities in western Turkey
have been, for the most part, assimilated into the political,
economic, and social life of the nation.  Kurds who are
currently migrating westward (including those displaced by the
conflict between the Government and the PKK), bring with them
their Kurdish cultural and village identity from the east.
Most parliamentary representatives from southeastern Turkey are
ethnic Kurds, but representatives of Kurdish ethnic origin have
been elected from districts far removed from the southeast.
Several cabinet ministers, as well as other government
officials, claim an ethnic Kurdish background.

The increasing violence of the fighting in the southeast is
polarizing ethnic Turks and Kurds and creating a climate of
intolerance.  Particularly, in cities such as Adana and Mersin,
which have witnessed a large influx of Kurds fleeing the
violence in the southeast, tensions are rising.  For example,
three friends in Adana were stopped by a policeman demanding to
see their identification papers.  The man from Sivas, a
predominantly Turkish province, was allowed to proceed; the two
friends from Mardin, a predominantly Kurdish province, were
detained and taken to the local police station for
questioning.  Tensions have also begun to spread westward, for
example, in a fight between a Kurdish construction worker and a
grocer in the Aegean province of Kutahya, local inhabitants
hurled stones at a cottage inhabited by eight Kurdish workers
and shouted anti-PKK slogans.

The 1991 repeal of the law prohibiting publications or
communication in Kurdish legalized some spoken and printed
Kurdish communications.  However, under the political parties
law, all discussion which takes place at political meetings
must be in Turkish.  Kurdish may only be spoken in
"nonpolitical communication."  Court proceedings (and all
government functions, including public education) continued to
be conducted in Turkish, disadvantaging those Kurdish-speaking
defendants who had to rely on court-provided translators.
Moreover, materials dealing with Kurdish history, culture, and
ethnic identity continued to be subject to confiscation and
prosecution under the "indivisible unity of the State"
provisions of the Anti-Terror Law.

The Gypsy population is extremely small, and no reported
incidents of public or government harassment directed against
Gypsies occurred during 1993.  In January a Democratic Left
Party deputy announced he had prepared a draft bill proposing
the adoption of Turkey's Gypsies as Turkish citizens, but the
legislation made no headway.

The Greek community complained of petty harassment by police,
restrictions on freedom of expression and religion,
discrimination in education involving teachers, books, and
curriculum, limitations on the right to control their
charitable institutions, and the denial of their ethnic
identity.  The Government approves teacher candidates and new
textbooks in step with reciprocal approvals by the Greek
Government for the Turkish minority in Thrace.  (See also
Section 2.c.)

    People with Disabilities

Parliament established a commission to look into the problems
of the disabled, but to date legislation dealing with the
disabled is piecemeal, and there is little legislation
regarding accessibility for the disabled.  Certain categories
of employers are required to hire disabled persons as 2 percent
of their employee pool, although there is no penalty for
failure to comply.  One M.P., himself disabled, is working on a
draft law which would fold all current provisions regarding the
disabled into one piece of legislation.  The draft reportedly
will include educational provisions (currently there are
special schools for the blind, deaf and mentally handicapped),
provisions to educate the general public, a provision that
municipalities not issue building permits unless the plans for
the building provide for access for the disabled, and provide
for an easing of customs regulations to allow for easier
importation of special equipment.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association
Most workers have the right to associate freely and form
representative unions.  Exceptions are schoolteachers (both
public and private), civil servants, the police, and military
personnel.  Upon taking office in November 1991, the Government
of Prime Minister Demirel declared, as part of its pledge to
bring Turkish labor legislation into conformity with the
standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO), its
intention to grant trade union rights to civil servants.
Implementation requires a three-step process:  parliamentary
ratification of ILO Conventions 87 on freedom of association
and 151 on freedom of association in the public sector;
amendment of the relevant article of the Constitution; and
revision of the law on trade unions.  In 1992 the Government
began the process by ratifying seven ILO Conventions, including
Conventions 87 and 151.

Permission for civil servants to form trade unions and for
unions to engage in political activity will require amendments
to the Constitution--a procedure further complicated by the
need to gain support among the opposition parties in order to
secure the requisite two-thirds majority.  The Government told
the ILO's Committee on the Application of Standards in June
that, with ratification of Convention 87, new legislative
measures with regard to the right of civil servants to organize
could be expected.  At year's end, the Government finished its
consultations with civil servant representatives and stated it
planned to submit draft legislation that would legalize civil
servant union organization to the Council of Ministers for
review in early 1994.

The law states that unions and confederations may be founded
without prior authorization based on a petition to the governor
of the province where the union's headquarters are to be
located.  Although unions are independent of the Government and
political parties, they must have government permission to hold
meetings or rallies and must allow police to attend conventions
and record the proceedings.  Union officers may serve no more
than eight consecutive 3-year terms in a given union position.
The Constitution requires candidates for union office to have
worked 10 years in the industry represented by the union.

Unions and their officers have a statutory right to express
views on issues directly affecting members' economic and social
interests, but the Constitution prohibits any union role in
party politics (such as organic or financial connections with
any political party or other association).  In practice, unions
have been able to convey clearly in election and referendum
campaigns their support for, or opposition to, given political
parties and government policies.  Prosecutors may request labor
courts to order a trade union or confederation into liquidation
based on alleged violation of specific legal norms.  The
Government, however, may not summarily dissolve a union.  The
ILO's Committee on Standards noted in June that public servants
who had been dismissed under martial law were being reinstated
as a result of the Fight Against Terrorism Act of 1991, but
expressed concern that the Act's broad definition of terrorism
and propaganda could lead to workers' being deprived of
employment on the basis of political discrimination.