Turkish Government Must Find a Common Solution for Roma in Sulukule

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September 15, 2008 06:16 PM
In April, I along with Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Senator Benjamin L. Cardin and Helsinki Commissioners Representatives Joseph R. Pitts and G.K. Butterfield sent a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, regarding the Sulukule urban transformation project. The letter expressed concern over the demolition of this historic community, which dates back to 1054, and whose residents are being forced to relocate outside of the city or onto the streets of Istanbul.

(Link to April 4th letter to Turkish Prime Minister.)

Despite efforts to find an alternative to the project, the demolition continued on August 28. I am extremely troubled by the nature of this demolition and the way it has been carried out. I believe that the Turkish government must find a common solution to this situation that not only treats the residents of Sulukule with the dignity and respect they deserve, but also ensures they are not left homeless. On September 3, Fatih District Mayor Mustafa Demir noted in the Turkish Daily News (Houses in Sulukule occupied, Fatih mayor said), “This project is an opportunity for those people living there, that they will never have again in their life.” I do not find the destruction and subsequent forced removal of residents from one of the oldest Roma communities in Europe to be a so-called ‘opportunity.’ The Roma community in Sulukule has continued to live under extremely dire conditions – conditions that nobody should have to endure. This urban transformation project is not about preserving this centuries-old neighborhood in a way that would allow the Roma living there to remain and contribute to Turkish society. Instead 620 new homes, a hotel and a culture and entertainment center will be constructed, displacing an historic community. I urge the Turkish government and in particular Mayor Demir to uphold the agreement from the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) 1999 Istanbul Summit: “We recognize the particular difficulties faced by Roma and Sinti and the need to undertake effective measures in order to achieve full equality of opportunity, consistent with OSCE commitments, for persons belonging to Roma and Sinti. We will reinforce our efforts to ensure that Roma and Sinti are able to play a full and equal part in our societies, and to eradicate discrimination against them.” It is imperative that the Turkish government find a solution that will eliminate the displacement and forced migration of the Romani community in Sulukule and instead give them the opportunity to work, provide shelter and education to their families, and contribute fully to society.

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission)

Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (FL-23), Chairman

Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (MD), Co-Chairman

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Türkçe çeviri:
Turk Hukumeti Sulukule'deki Romanlar icin Ortak bir Cozum Bulmalidir

15 Eylul, 2008 18:16

Nisan ayinda Helsinki Komisyonu Esbaskani Senator Benjamin L. Cardin ve Helsinki Komisyonu temsilcileri Joseph R. Pitts ve G.K. Butterfield ile birlikte TC Basbakani Erdogan'a Sulukule'deki kentsel donusum projesiyle ilgili bir mektup gonderdim. Soz konusu mektup, tarihi 1054 yilina kadar giden, ve sakinleri sehrin disina ya da Istanbul sokaklarina gitmeye zorlanan bu tarihi mahallenin yikimiya ilgili kaygilari dile getiriyordu.

Projeye alternatif bulma cabalarimiza ragmen, yikimlar 28 Agustos'da devam etti. Bu yikimin dogasi ve yurutulus bicimi beni son derece tedirgin etmektedir. Turk hukumetinin bu duruma, Sulukule sakinlerine hak ettikleri haysiyet ve saygiyla davranmakla kalmayip ayni zamanda evsiz kalmamalarini garanti altina alan ortak bir cozum bulmasi gerektigine inaniyorum.

3 Eylul'de Fatih Ilcesi Belediye Baskani Mustafa Demir Turkish Daily News gazetesinde yayinlanan demecinde "Bu proje burda yasayan insanlar icin bir daha hayatlari boyunca sahip olamayacaklari bir firsattir" demistir. Ben Avrupa'nin en eski Roman mahallerinden birinin yikimi ve onu muteakiben sakinlerinin zorla uzaklastirilmalarini sozumona "firsat" olarak gormuyorum. Sulukule'deki Roman cemaati kimsenin katlanmak zorunda olmamasi gereken son derece zor sartlar altinda yasamaya devam etmektedir.

Bu kentsel donusum projesinin, tarihi yuzyillarca eski bu mahallenin, burada yasayan Romanlarin yerlerinde kalmalarina ve Turk toplumuna katilimlarina olanak taniyan bir sekilde korunmasiyla hicbir alakasi yoktur. Bunun yerine 620 yeni ev, bir otel ve bir kultur ve eglence merkezi insa edilerek tarihi bir cemaat yerinden edilecektir.

Turk hukumetini ve ozellikle de belediye baskani Demir'i Avrupa Güvenlik ve İşbirliği Teşkilatı (AGIT) 1999 Istanbul zirvesinde imzalanan anlasmaya uymaya davet ediyorum. "Roman ve Sinti mensuplarının karşılaştığı sorunların ve bunların tam fırsat eşitliğinden yararlanmaları için AGİT yükümlülükleriyle tutarlı olarak etkili önlemler alınması ihtiyacının bilincindeyiz. Roman ve Sinti'nin toplumlarımız içinde tam ve eşit bir yere sahip olmaları ve onlara yönelik her türlü ayırımcılığın sona erdirilmesi için çabalarımızı artıracağız." (Avrupa Güvenlik Şartı'nin 20.maddesi)

Turk hukumetinin Sulukule'de yasayan Roman cemaatinin zorunlu gocunu ve yerinden edilmesini ortadan kaldiran ve onun yerine onlara calisma, ailelerinin barinmasini ve egitimini saglama, ve topluma tam olarak katilma firsatlarini sunan bir cozum bulmasi zorunludur.

ABD Kongre Uyesi Alcee L. Hastings,

Helsinki Komisyonu'nun Esbaskani

Camapaña por el Derecho a Una Vivienda Digna

Estimados amigos, desde Perú reciban la mas amplia solidaridad del comite de campaña por el Drecho a una Vivienda Digna para todas y todos.

Su lucha es también nuestra lucha para que se respete el derecho de todas las poblaciones de contar con una vivienda segura libre de la amenaza de desalojos

solidariamente

Carlos Escalante

Coordinador

Comite de camapaña por el derecho a una vivienda digna

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İspanyolca'dan Çevirisi:

Sevgili Dostlar,

Peru'dan Onurlu Barınma Hakkı Kampanya Komitesi'nden dayanışma dileklerimizi kabul edin. Bütün insanların yıkım tehtidi olmadan güvenli barınmaya sahip olma hakkına saygı gösterilme mücadeleniz bizimde mücadelemiz.

Dayanışma ile,

Carlos Escalante

Coordinador

Onurlu Barınma Hakkı Kampanya Komitesi

U.S. Helsinki Commission Urges Respect for Human Rights of Roma

April 7, 2008

U.S. Helsinki Commission Urges Respect for Human Rights of Roma

Commemorates 18^th Annual International Roma Day

(Washington, DC) Ahead of tomorrow's International Roma Day, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S.Helsinki Commission), and Co-Chairman Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), issued the following statement: 

"As Co-Chairmen of the Helsinki Commission, we commemorate International Roma Day and stand committed to the protection of human rights for all Roma," said Co-Chairmen Hastings and Cardin. 

"Being a  member of a minority  group in Congress and, in fact, the first African American to chair the Helsinki Commission, the protection of human rights and the promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination  are especially important goals for me.  I am particularly concerned about Roma in the OSCE region who are the victims of racial attacks and widespread discrimination," Chairman Hastings commented. 

Co-Chairman Cardin remarked, "Roma constitute the largest ethnic minority in Europe, and Chairman Hastings and I have made it a point to meet with Romani activists in Kosovo, Bucharest, Prague and Bratislava to learn about their conditions first hand.  We commend Finland, serving as the OSCE's Chair-in-Office, for making Romani human rights issues the focus of one of this year's three specialized human rights meetings."

Chairman Hastings observed that it was regrettable that Slovakia has not yet acknowledged the sterilization without informed consent of Romani women.  "I met with Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Dusan Caplovic in February, and urged him to address this painful chapter of Slovakia's history.  In addition, it is critical that Slovakia ensure that women have full and complete access to their own medical records."

Co-Chairman Cardin noted that he and other Commissioners wrote to Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan just last week about the destruction of the historic Romani district in Sulukule, Istanbul.  "I am especially concerned about the explosive housing conditions faced by Roma in many countries," said Cardin.  "In many places, long-settled Roma risk being uprooted from their communities, with predictable and disastrous consequences for families, including the ability of children to receive education."

 "We urge all OSCE participating States to honor the commitments adopted at the 1999 Istanbul Summit and in other OSCE documents to ensure Roma are treated with dignity and respect," concluded Co-Chairmen Hastings and Cardin.

On April 4, Co-Chairmen Hastings and Cardin, along with Helsinki Commissioners Congressmen Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA), and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), wrote to Turkish Prime Minister Tayip Erdoğan, regarding the Sulukule urban transformation project.  The letter expresses concern about the demolition of this historic community, which dates back to 1054, and whose residents will be forced to relocate to a town 40 kilometers outside of the city.  Many residents cannot afford to relocate and will be forced onto the streets of Istanbul. (Please find attached a copy of the letter)

International Roma Day was established in 1990 in Warsaw, Poland, during the fourth World Romani Congress, in honor of the first major international meeting of Roma representatives.  The day celebrates Roma culture and raises awareness of the issues facing Romani people. 

The OSCE participating States will hold a Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Romani issues in Vienna, July 10 and 11. 

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The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the HelsinkiCommission, is a U.S. Government agency that monitors progress in the implementation of the provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. The Commission consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce. 

Lale M. Mamaux, Communications Director

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

(U.S. Helsinki Commission)

Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (FL-23), Chairman

234 Ford House Office Building

www.csce.gov

The International Alliance of Inhabitants (IAI)

I am writing to you on behalf of the International Alliance of Inhabitants (IAI), the international network of social organizations (inhabitants' associations, tenants' unions, homeless and poorly sheltered people's committees, housing co-operatives and social centres, volunteers' and migrants' associations), which for many years has been committed to the defence of housing rights 'without frontiers'. Furthermore, I belong to the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) of UN-Habitat.

Our organization received very disturbing information from the Sulukule Platform, the Popular Coordination for Housing Rights, the Human Rights Associations and the Turkish media, concerning the violent evictions of approximately dozen of families, hundreds people, which are carrying out beginning August 28th 2008 in the Sulukule area, the most ancient Roma neighborhood in the world.
The clearing out, started at 6.00 am without adequate warning despite the presence of children, women and older persons, showed discrimination mainly against the Roma people and throught he following: on one hand, the homeowners were offered alternative solutions in Tasoluk; on the other hand, the tenants and the families who are owners which refused to sign a contract with the municipality, did not receive any relocation alternatives or compensation.
Besides, invited by the Roma Culture and Solidarity Association on 28th July 2008, I was able to directly verify that approximately hundreds persons, of which many are children, are living in the same area among the rubbles of the demolished houses for months, which pose major risks especially for children. How also mentioned in the Istanbul Governor's Human Rights Report, there is no water, no electricity and phone lines in some parts of the neighborhood are cut off. No sanitary precautions are taken. Rats and all kind of pests have infested the neighborhood threatening the public sanity. 
The new academic year begins on September 1st  for primary school students and next week also the secodary schools. Children and youth of Sulukule cannot attend schools neither in Sulukule nor in Tasoluk. They cannot do so in Sulukule, because their homes are either demolished or will be demolished soon. And they cannot go to school in Tasoluk, because they are not allowed to move to those houses yet. Thus, their right for education is being violated.

For these reasons, I would like first of all to remind you that this situation violates the following articles of national and international law:

Article 57, Right to housing of the Turkish Constitution.
Article 12, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III), 10 December 1948.
Article 11, (Right to housing) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by Turkey on 23 December 2003. In particular the General Comments n. 4 and 7.
Article 27, Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Turkey on 4 May 1995.
Article 8 (Right to respect for private and family life) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, ratified by Turkey on 18 May 1954. 
Revised European Social Charter, ratified by Turkey on 27 September 2006 (alone or in combination with Article E (non-discrimination):
Article 16 (Right of the family to social, legal and economic protection)
Article 30 (Right to protection against poverty and social exclusion) 
Article 31 (Right to housing)

For these reasons we support the demands of the Sulukule Platform for all the violated rights to be respected immediately, or in other words:

1.An end to any attempt to evict or demolish by force, until an alternative project is produced on the basis of a participatory model and with the consent of the inhabitants, how is proposed also by the UNESCO. 
2.The immediate provision of water and emergency sanitation and other public service in Sulukule must go on until the last inhabitant leaves.
3.The recognition and urgent fulfilment of the rightholdership of all families still living in Sulukule, including all those who were tenants in the year 2005 when the project was announced.

We are ready to work together on implementing these demands, but if they are ignored or not dealt with immediately, we are determined to launch a widespread international publicity and solidarity campaign.

Finally, we would not hesitate in appealing to the UN-Habitat AGFE, the UN Committee on Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and to the European Committee of Social Rights. 


Respectfully yours.


Cesare Ottolini
IAI coordinator

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?typeid=19&catid=282&cid=3480

http://www.habitants.org/article/frontpage/15/140