Most of you are probably familiar with little anectodes that start like " An American, a Brit and a Turk were travelling in the same boat........" and end up with some funny punch line to give readers a smile.

Well, I must warn you that such anectodes are no longer constitutional and they are strıctly forbidden.

The reason is that while a guy from Amerca can freely be called an "American" and  reference to someone from Britain as a "Brit" is perfectly acceptable - calling someone from Turkia a "Turk" shall henceforth be considered as ethnic discrimination, and will not be allowed under the new  constitution (currently being designed).

BELIEVE IT OR NOT !

Are you serious? What should they be called then?

I was wondering the same thing...How can you mandate what people identify themselves as? 

well being called a Turk is better than being called yankee doodle or frog, I don´t see anything discriminating about it

A citizen of Turkey would seem to be appropriatly called a Turk....I would think. People from France are called French, Canada are called Canadian, Ireland are called Irish....and so on. 

So, what is it now? 

He he.

Some people of my country feel like as if we are heading  in to an abyss..

Year after year, forcing people to call themselves Turks, without realizing the fact that we have been violating almost every single human rights on earth as far as the asimilation of the other ethnic origins within our borders and leaving almost 70.000 dead behind, rulers of Turkey has decided to find a solution.

They are not banning people calling themselves anything. All they are trying to do is trying to remove the articles relating to ethnic identity in the constitution.  There are some articles  like  ´Every citizen of Turkey is a Turk´. Some people believe that they are not Turk. You can not force them with the law about what they are going to call themselves. All they are trying to do is finding a solution which will be suitable for a modern country like Turkey.

Some people are really getting worried that what they are going to call themselves if our ethnicity is not mentioned in the new constitution!! ..

I guess, these ´woried people´ think that they will wake up one morning and start  wondering ´what was I? was I a Turk or a Greek or an American?´ and then they will blame the new constitution !!

Canadians are also called Canucks, Amercians - Yanks or Yankees, one from soutern Ireland is called a Pikey...

And if you look closely in the list of nicknames below, now where is Turkey mentionned, so it seems that Turk to say a person from Turkey is not a nickname.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regional_nicknames

There is no mandate....Turkish passports are not mandatory.

efi70  go read the Constitution of Greece which calls all ethnic groups (Turks, Albanians, Bulgarians) Greek !

thehandsom, go do the same thing "research" before making ignorant comments  

elisabeth, you do not have to go do that but perhaps delete this post or lock the thread 

Part II 

Individual and Social Rights 

Article 4 [Citizenship and Equality]

(1) All Greeks are equal before the law.

(2) Greek men and Greek women have equal rights and obligations.

(3) Greek citizens are those who possess the qualifications specified by the law. No one shall be deprived of his citizenship save in the case of persons assuming on their own free will another citizenship or joining a service in another country which is contrary to the national interests, in accordance with the conditions and procedure laid down by the law in detail.

(4) Only Greek citizens shall be eligible for public service save in those cases where exceptions are introduced by specific legislation.

(5) Greek citizens shall, without discrimination, contribute towards sharing the burden of public expenditure according to their ability.

(6) Every Greek able to bear arms shall be obliged to assist in the defence of the nation, as provided by law.

(7) Titles of nobility or distinction shall neither be conferred upon, nor recognized in Greek citizens.