Ha ha
As if the papers are following our discussions here
Monority report:
It was two decades ago that I unwittingly took a dentist´s drill to the jangling sensitivities that attend the very use of the word "minority" in Turkey.
An English-language newspaper of which I was an editor had just published an interview ...."When you think of minorities in Turkey, the first thing that comes to mind are Greeks, Kurds, Armenians or Jews but in fact there are minorities among Turks themselves." That evening the phone rang and I found myself talking to a very senior general who (I didn´t realize at the time) was a senior aid to then-President Kenan Evren. He had called to complain.
"Kurds are not a minority," he told me.
He explained that the term "minority" referred to the very specific status defined in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, ..... Ergo, he repeated, "Kurds are not a minority." I replied in my burgeoning Turkish that the article had used the word "minority" in a more colloquial sense to describe people who, for ethnic or linguistic reasons, felt themselves to be different or excluded from the mainstream. He did not concede the point. Kurds, he assured me, were treated just like anyone else in society and not like blacks in America.
I protested that the article hadn´t set out to equate minority with a victim of discrimination. After all, I said, Greeks and Armenians can succeed in Turkish society just like anyone else. "No, they can´t," he replied. "Besides, Kurds aren´t a minority," he said.
"Are you trying to tell me they´re a majority?" I asked in a misguided attempt to lighten the mood. And that is where our conversation came to an abrupt end, although its reverberations continued for some time.
... with the rest of Europe on the subject of what a minority is, what rights they should enjoy and how to address institutionalized discrimination. The conclusion she reaches is an unflattering one: "Although the education system could be used as an effective tool to promote tolerance, multiculturalism and peace, it is deepening fears and hatred in its current state."
The rest :
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=169793
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