We celebrate ‘International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’ of 21 March

ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu: “Our expectation and demand from SYRIZA who was stressing a lot on equality and justice for all and promised a change in the political system of the country in order to deepen democracy is the creation of a dialogue mechanism between our minority and the government based on equality, freedom and tolerance.”

21 March was declared as ‘International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’ by United Nations (UN) in 1966.

On 21 March 1960, 69 people were killed by policemen in Sharpeville city of South Africa as they were protesting against the Apartheid laws. In an attempt to memorise this incident and to raise awareness on the importance of fighting against racial discrimination, 21 March was chosen as an international day. After 55 years of this tragic event, hate-motivated discourses and crimes are on rise in Europe today.

UN is trying to draw attention in 2015 to the issue of racial discrimination throughout the world with the theme of “Drawing lessons from historical tragedies in fighting against racial discrimination today”. What the UN desires to achieve is to analyse the factors lying behind racism and racial discrimination.

Speaking on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu stated: “We celebrate this international day in the name of all ethnic, national, religious or linguistic groups whose social and political rights have been violated and taken away. We condemn the mentality of non-recognition of natural rights, freedoms and human dignity on the basis of ethnic differences and declare that we are against all forms of racial discrimination. We call upon all European states to draw lessons from history and to respect all ethnic groups living within their territories in the fight against hate-motivated crimes fed by racism and racial discrimination. The Turkish Minority of Western Thrace that was living on the region for centuries became a minority following the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 and since then has been facing discrimination in all parts of life just because they have a different ethnicity, language and religion. In our country where historical prejudices nourish the feeling of ‘otherness’ towards the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, we expect to see a dialogue mechanism being established between our minority and the government based on equality, freedom and tolerance by abandoning the governmental prejudices and baseless perceptions/fears that our minority poses a threat for our country. This is what we demand and expect from SYRIZA who was stressing a lot on equality and justice for all before coming to power and promised a change in the political system of the country in order to deepen democracy.”

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