European Syriac Union submits 2019 Turkey country report to European Commission

Brussels – The European Syriac Union (ESU) this week submitted to the European Commission’s Turkey desk its annual Turkey country report in which it focuses on events and the situation in 2019 of the Syriac people in Turkey. In the report for the year 2019, ESU expresses great concern in particular over the further overall polarization in Turkish society, human rights violations, arbitrary arrests and the aggressive nationalistic atmosphere.

ESU states that within the highly polarized Turkish society, indigenous minorities, non-Muslim and non-dominant components face alienation, hate crimes and hate speeches. During 2019, the Turkish AKP government also tried to benefit and use minority and religious groups including the Syriac community for their broader (geo)political and military ambitions including their invasion of northeastern Syria.

The report highlights three events negatively affecting the Syriac people living in southeastern Turkey during the year of 2019 and the first months of 2020.

In the summer of 2019, the Syriac community of Tur Abdin faced widespread forest and land fires in different locations and villages causing material damage and economic loss. The first fires destroyed the olive grove and 500-700 olive trees belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Deyr-ul-Zafaran Monastery. The Syriac villages in the valley of the Tur Izlo mountain range and other villages faced similar fires and damages. The fires reached the Syriac villages near Idil, Şırnak.

Another case which preoccupied Syriac people in the country and in the world were the arbitrary arrests of Syriac Sefer Bilecen, a monk residing in the Mor Yakup Monastery in the Tur Izlo region, the mayor of the Syriac village of Arkah Yusuf Yar and Musa Tastekin from the Syriac village of Sederi. Yusuf Yar was later deposed as AKP mayor of his village. The European Syriac Union continues to monitor their ongoing cases and trials.

The case of the missing Syriac-Chaldean Diril couple, parents of the priest of the Chaldean parish in Istanbul, is another case the ESU continues to monitor.

As a non-governmental representative organization of the Syriac people, the European Syriac Union in its report demands from the Turkish state:

1 – Ethnic rights

• The recognition of the Syriacs as a native people in Turkey and constitutional protection of their rights and liberties;
• Equality before the law for all citizens who live in Turkey without any discrimination of religion, language or ethnicity;
• Official acceptance of the Sayfo Genocide of 1915 on Syriacs.

2 – Language rights

• The recognition of the Syriacs as a native people in Turkey and constitutional protection of their rights and liberties;
• Equality before the law for all citizens who live in Turkey without any discrimination of religion, language or ethnicity;
• Official acceptance of the Sayfo Genocide of 1915 on Syriacs.
• The lifting of the ban on the Syriac (Aramaic) language and alphabet;
• The opening of Syriac teaching Schools;
• The right to launch TV and radio channels in the Syriac language;
• The free publication and distribution of written materials in Syriac;
• Broadcasting programs in the Syriac language on state administered television channels.

3 – Cultural Rights

• Official recognition of cultural days and festivals of the Syriac tradition;
• Allowing the usage of names and surnames in the Syriac language;
• The freedom to organize and participate in Syriac cultural activities..

4 – Religious Rights

• The official powers and privileges to be returned to the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch (expelled from the Deyr-ul-Zafaran Monastery in Mardin in 1931) and to the Patriarch of the Eastern Apostolic Church (exiled in 1915). The ban on their return to be removed;
• The return of the properties, lands, historical manuscripts, documents and ornaments that belong to Syriac churches and monasteries;
• Protection of the immovable chattels by the state;
• Allowing teaching in the religious seminaries;
• Syriac religious representatives to be officially recognized by the state;
• The return of tens of Syriac churches which have been converted into mosques to their original owners.

5 – The right of return

• The necessary means to be provided to the Syriacs who left their ancestral lands since the beginning of the 20^th century to return to these living areas within the borders of the Turkish Republic;
• The right to use the original geographical names of Syriac cities and villages;
• The removal of obstacles for Syriacs who have lost their Turkish citizenship to return to their villages;
• Issuing the property ownership deeds during the Cadastral Land Registry works for the expatriated Syriacs who have left their lands and properties for a long time;
• The establishment of an adequate infrastructure and social facilities in the Syriac settlements;
• The enhancement of financial and other means for the development of the areas inhabited by the Syriacs.

6 – Other rights

• The necessary assistance for the Syriacs who have been stripped off their Turkish citizenship for their return to Turkish citizenship;
• Solving the compulsory military service issues faced by the Syriacs living abroad for a long time and removing this obstacle before their visiting and returning to re-settle in the country;
• Finding the perpetrators of the 45 murdered Syriac persons between 1987 and 1998;

In 1987 there still was a strong Syriac presence in Tur Abdin. In 1998 this number was down to a couple of thousand of Syriacs. To date there are around 3.000 Syriacs left in Tur Abdin. The list of the Syriacs murdered from 1987 to 1998:

1987 – Habib Ün (Midyat), Aho Erdinç (Arbo), Tumas Behnam (Derik), Bahho Hure (Derik).

1988 – Fehmi Yarar (Midyat).

1990 – Yakup Görgün (Midyat), Gevriye Bulut (Anhel), Sami Bulut (Anhel), Yusuf Aykıl (Arnas), Edibe Aykıl (Arnas), Melke Kahraman (Midyat), Şemun Ünal (Bnebil), Bahhe Akgül (Bnebil), Yusuf Sürer (Bnebil), Celil Büyükbaş (Bnebil).

1991 – Ishak Tahan (Midyat), Ferit Adil (Anhel), Işmuni Adil (Anhel), Mihayel Bayro (Idil).

1992 – Simon Konutgan (İdil), Fikri Akbulut (Midyat), Yakup Yonatan (Kızıltepe), Cırcıs Yüksel (Keleth).

1993 – Aydın (Anhel), Isa Koç (Anhel), Aziz Kalaycı (Anhel), Yusuf Özbakır (Anhel), Gevriye Durmaz (Anhel), Gorgis Savcı (Hah), Georgis Baydar (Idil), Hamdi Şimşek (Şırnak-Bespin (Görümlü)), Hikmet Şimşek (Şırnak-Bespin (Görümlü)), Hanna Aydın (Hah).

1994 Yakup Mete (Midyat), Şükrü Tutuş (İdil), Aziz Çiftçi (Mardin), Eduard Tanrıverdi (Midyat).

1996 – Yusuf Dildar (Hakkari), Garip Marbel Taner (Hakkari), Milad Ishak Yalda (Hakkari), Viya Şoreş Iman (Hakkari), Imal Gevergis Hanna (Hakkari).

1997 – Iskender Aras (Doğançay), Rehane Aras (Doğançay).

1998 – Hanna Adikti (Bespin).