Turkish-Armenian Deputy of Turkey’s oppositional Republican People’s Party (CHP) Selina Dogan has submitted to the Parliament an interpellation addressed to the Minister of Internal Affairs.
According to Ermenihaber, Dogan has asked Turkey’s Minister of Internal Affairs Efkan Ala about the number of Armenian, Greek, Jewish and Assyrian minorities in Turkey. Dogan has also addressed the General Department for the Population and Citizens’ Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey to obtain information about the topic within the scope of the law “On receiving information”.
In her interpellation addressed to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Dogan has reminded that during a discussion in the Mejlis on the appropriateness of applying a “nationality code” for ethnic minorities, Minister Ala had mentioned that codification (use of special passwords) had nothing to do with national minorities. According to the minister, the purpose of that is to count the number of ethnic minorities.
“Knowing the number of the population and its demographic image is very important from the perspective of planning and carrying out public services. Minorities mainly receive public services (education, religious ceremonies, healthcare) through their funds and foundations. That’s why the funds and foundations of minorities are simply obliged to know the number of members of their respective communities in order to regulate the public services within the given community. In addition, Christian communities, which can’t find out the precise number of their populations, even have a hard time choosing their religious leaders.
In this context, how many Armenians, Jews, Greeks and Assyrians are citizens of the Republic of Turkey?” the interpellation reads.
