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Turkey's Aramaeans Appeal to Turkish Premier on Mor Gabriel Monastery

By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

[ Posted On: 2009-05-15 ]

In this article, I republish the Open Letter – Appeal to the Turkish Premier on Mor Gabriel Monastery that Mr. Johny Messo, President of the Syriac Universal Alliance, has made public a few days ago. In further articles, I will expand more on the issue, and on the great significance of the worldwide Aramaeans for Turkey.

Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayip Erdogan:

The Future of the Mor Gabriel Monastery and Aramaean (Syriac) Villages

His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Prime Minister
06573 ANKARA, Turkey

Subject: The Future of the Mor Gabriel Monastery and Aramean (Syriac) villages

Stockholm, May 11, 2009

Dear Prime Minister Erdogan,

We write you on behalf of the Syriac Universal Alliance (SUA), the worldwide umbrella organization of all the national Federations of the Aramean (Syriac) people.

We are aware that you are now closely monitoring the alarming events faced by the Mor Gabriel Monastery and many Aramean villages in southeast Turkey. In view of your recent intervention and the constant postponements of the Mor Gabriel trials, including the adjournment of May 6, we take the liberty of appealing to you by way of an open letter.

It has been brought to your attention that the Aramean community, in both Turkey and the Diaspora, has taken an extremely strong interest in this matter. International media, human rights organizations and governmental bodies have stressed the importance of Turkey abiding by EU standards on democracy, human rights, property rights and minority rights.

SUA has consistently issued reports and press releases about this matter to all concerned authorities. Together with representatives and observers of the EU, SUA has also attended all court trials. But time and again, attendees were unanimous in their criticism of the existing flaws of the Turkish legal system.

Fortunately, this very point about the inadequacy of the Turkish judicial system has been recently acknowledged by you and other Turkish government officials. One of SUA´s profound concerns is that the indigenous Aramean people of southeast Turkey have already fallen victim to the country´s judicial deficiency. The Mor Gabriel case may be the most familiar one. But as you are aware, Mr. Prime Minister, the same applies to several other Aramean villages, particularly in the region of Tur Abdin.

In the past few months, SUA has met personally with high-ranking Turkish officials, including the Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the General Director of Land Registry and Cadastre and the Governor of the Mardin province.

Unfortunately, it appears to SUA that these State officials are not in a hurry to resolve these matters or to push for a just solution. We therefore appeal to you, Mr. Prime Minister, with your strong sense of justice, democracy and humanity, to assist with the Mor Gabriel question as follows:

• - Mediate promptly and objectively so as to prevent the injustice of Aramean land loss

continuing; and

• - Ensure that the decisions of the related Turkish authorities are reversed and relevant cases are dismissed to the benefit of the Aramean people, in order that current public condemnation of Turkey ends. We all want to ensure this case does not end up in the European Court of Justice, which is where other cases involving Turkey´s Greek and Armenian minorities have been resolved successfully.

Regarding the Aramean (Syriac) people in Turkey, including the (potential) Aramean repatriates, we further request you to:

• - focus your attention on a large number (between 10-15 villages and growing) of towns and villages where the Cadastral, Forestry and Treasury systems will effectively take more land from the indigenous Aramean population;

• - ensure that your public statements that the Aramean people who wish to return to their ancestral lands are guaranteed and that their property rights are protected by the Turkish government and all relevant government bodies. This can be achieved by granting Arameans their relevant land registration documents, as took place recently with five Aramean villages. This guarantees the protection of their ancestral land, stimulates more Arameans to return to their traditional homes, and paves the way for a secure future of the Aramean people in Turkey; and

• - officially recognize the Aramean people under the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 as a distinct minority group, thereby ensuring their basic protection and development in Turkish society, including Aramaic language, religious, cultural and property rights.

We stress that SUA wishes to work peacefully and cordially with the Turkish Government. We strongly believe that a united approach to Aramean rights in Turkey will result in a number of benefits – not only for the Aramean people, but also for Turkey. Thus, we would welcome any approach where SUA is consulted on how to resolve the issues at hand.

However, we also note that as long as the Mor Gabriel Monastery trials remain unresolved, SUA will keep advising its worldwide Federations to continue to take action against this. We will recommend that the many thousands of Arameans throughout Europe, Australia and North America continue to demonstrate and protest peacefully (in many different law abiding forms), against the abuse of our human rights and our property rights.

Among all the Aramaic-speaking Christians in the world, SUA is the only NGO with a Special Consultative Status at the Economic and Social Council of the UN. As the acknowledged voice of the Aramean (Syriac) people, SUA requests that your Government not neglect the Arameans, but treats them with equality and dignity in a truly democratic Turkish Republic.

We are prepared to cooperate and coordinate solutions with your Government on matters pertaining to the Aramean community for the benefit of both Turkish and European society. We look forward to receiving your response and note that we would be most delighted to discuss any of these matters personally with you.

Respectfully yours,

Johny Messo
President
Syriac Universal Alliance

Cc:

• Turkish Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the General Director of Land Registry and Cadastre & the Governor of Mardin.

• Foreign Ministers & Ambassadors of major European countries and the USA.

• Members of the EU, Council of Europe & OHCHR (incl. the Turkey Rapporteurs);

• International media outlets (incl. Turkish media).

SUA President Mr. Johny Messo can be reached here: johny.messo@sua-ngo.org and here: +31-6-11 539 771

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 52, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.

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