HDP MP Tuma Çelik: The Place of Confronting the Syriac Genocide is the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey – On the 105^th anniversary of Sayfo, Syriac Member of Turkish Parliament for the HDP Tuma Çelik addressed the topic of Genocide on the Syriac people (Sayfo) in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In his address and the parliamentary motion he raised, MP Çelik asked Turkish parliament to open a parliamentary survey into the persistent constitutional violations and neglect of the Syriac people subsequent to the Sayfo. Turkish parliament has not recognized the Sayfo as genocide.

Subsequent to the 1915 Genocide, the violation of Syriac rights became a policy of systematic neglect in the Republic of Turkey. The Syriac people, in the Ottoman Empire and throughout the history of the Turkish Republic, never got real recognition. Today, the Syriac people still have to deal with persistent and unsolved social, constitutional, and political issues as a result of this systematic violation of their fundamental rights as citizens and as a full component of Turkish society. Due to massive migration, Syriacs have almost disappeared from Turkish society.

In the first years of AKP government, tensions relaxed and improvements arose as a result of the European Union accession process which provided partial and temporary solutions to the problems Syriacs had to deal with. But the underlying issues of persistent violations and constitutional neglect were not solved. Later, the emergence and efforts of Syriac actors in Turkish civil society and the political arena, and the reconciliation talks between the Turkish government and Kurds (2013-2015) to come to a non-violent settlement of their decades-long conflict, created momentum to bring latent issues concerning Syriacs, their history and contemporary role and place in Turkey, into the public debate and put their issues on the public agenda.

The recognition of the 1915 Genocide by many European countries, and especially Germany in 2016, also pushed the debate on the Sayfo Genocide more into the public and created room for open discussion. And the Turkish National Assembly of Turkey is one of these public spaces where opportunities arose for this discussion. The Genocide of 1915 and subsequent state policies regarding its indigenous components started to come on the Assembly’s agenda. First, with regards to 24th April, as the generally accepted date of the beginning of the Armenian genocide. And later with regards to 15th June as the generally accepted date of the beginning of the Syriac Genocide.

#15June: all over the world, the Syriac community commemorates those who lost their lives in the genocide. We commemorate SAYFO Genocide of #1915 in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. We cannot establish a future without facing the past. We did not forget 1915 SAYFO, we will not forget it. We will continue to defend our rights on the basis of equal citizenship, we will not give up our struggle.

#15Haziran’da Süryani toplumu dünyanın her yerinde soykırımda hayatını kaybedenleri anar. Biz de #1915 soykırımı olan SAYFO’yu TBMM’de anıyoruz. pic.twitter.com/82YTcvDTlJ

— Tuma Çelik (@tumacelikhdp) June 16, 2020

On the 15th of June in the National Assembly, in 105^th year of the genocide, HDP MP for Mardin Tuma Çelik in addressing the issue and requesting a parliamentary survey, said;

“In 1915, the Committee of Union and Progress implemented plans to eliminate Christians from Anatolia. Armenians and Syriacs in particular, were subjected to compulsory deportations and slaughter during these deportations. Research shows that there were over 500,000 Syriacs living in Anatolia before 1915. Today, that number has dwindled to 20,000. After the events of 1915, pressures on Syriacs continued throughout the history of the Turkish Republic. Syriacs were never allowed and enabled to exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms.”

With regards to the rights of non-Muslim peoples, minorities and communities in Turkey, the Treaty of Lausanne signed in 1923 is the most important legal document in hand;

“The Turkish Republic in the Treaty of Lausanne, which is considered one of the founding treaties, guarantees the rights of non-Muslims peoples, minorities and communities, but consecutive governments have violated these provisions and rights time and again. And they did not allow non-Muslims to use these rights.

One of the most fundamental violations which Syriacs faced are those concerning collective communal rights. Despite the Lausanne Treaty and the European Convention on Human Rights, Syriacs were not allowed to execute these communal rights. The state has neither allowed the execution of these collective rights, nor has it mentioned or regarded Syriacs as a Syriac people or community in its own right. The state has violated the Lausanne Treaty.”

The Syriac community’s basic rights with regards to worship and education were not allowed. Syriacs couldn’t open schools and churches for almost 80 years. MP Tuma Çelik addressed this in his motion;

“The main rights guaranteed by the Treaty of Lausanne are the rights to worship and the right to education. The treaty explicitly provides and guarantees the right for non-Muslims to education and worship provided by the state.

However, the Syriacs’ right to education was taken away and schools were not allowed to be opened. The right to education is the foundation of development and survival of a language and culture. As, over the years, Syriacs in Turkey were not allowed to receive education in their mother tongue, the Syriac language is in danger of extinction. It was not allowed a place in the public domain and in areas where the Syriac population is dense, in violation of Lausanne.  In Turkey, there is still no Syriac school at the basic education level.

Patriarchal property was confiscated. The Syriac community was also not allowed to open places of worship such as monasteries and churches. Existing places of worship were not reconstructed and opened for worship. Only one Syriac church was allowed to be opened in the history of the Turkish Republic.”

Syriacs who have been living in European countries since the 2000s, and who returned to Mardin, Midyat and other regions, it turned out, were deprived of their property rights. On non-assurance of property rights and ownership the MPs motion stated the following;

“The Syriacs who lived in Mardin, Şırnak, Batman and Hakkari had to migrate from their regions. Hundreds of properties, places of worship and monasteries were either expropriated or given to others. Assurance of Syriac ownership was taken away. As a result of all these policies, the religious and cultural assets of Syriacs are in danger.”

Referencing the face-to-face efforts of countries in the world who experienced similar processes of genocide and reconciliation, MP Çelik stated the importance of confrontation;

“Social peace is one of the foundations of coexistence. It is essential to face the past to ensure social peace. Crimes, criminals, lawlessness, and injustice take hostage of our future. The heavy burden of the past will not decrease over time. Time passed is time stolen from the future. The failure of finding solutions for all the severe problems Turkey faces, is the failure to face these severe problems. Facing the struggle alone already creates great hopes for social peace. Germany’s efforts of confronting the Holocaust is an experience which can guide us. Every brave step in the past is a step in the magic of the future.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey is one of the places where confrontation efforts can start.”