ERRC Files Complaint with Ombudsperson of Turkish Daily Newspaper

19 October 2006

Article in Hurriyet's property supplement misstated ERRC's position on plans to evict Roma from Sulukule neighbourhood in Istanbul

On October 19, 2006, the European Roma Rights Centre sent a complaint to the Ombudsperson of the Turkish Hurriyet daily requesting the Ombudsperson to interfere in the case of mis-statement of ERRC's position on the pending eviction of Roma from Sulukule neighbourhood in Istanbul, in the article "Modern Sulukule Starts in the End of This Year", published on September 28, 2006 in Hurriyet's property supplement. The European Roma Rights Centre requested the following text to be published in the newspaper:

"On September 5, 2006, the ERRC met with Mr. Mustafa Demir, Mayor of Fatih Municipality, and expressed profound concern regarding the plans to forcibly evict Roma from Sulukule. Present in the meeting were representatives of a number of partner organizations. The ERRC stated that such actions risked serious violation of Turkey's obligations under international human rights law because the eviction would expose numerous Roma to homelessness and extreme deprivation of social and economic rights as well as will reinforce housing segregation. The ERRC also expressed concern that the municipality failed to carry out genuine consultations with the affected Roma communities. We expressed the same position in a letter of concern to Prime Minister Erdogan dated September 21, 2006, and joined by a number of Turkish civil organizations."

The text of the letter of concern to Prime Minister Erdogan is available at: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2630 

The text of the article is available in Turkish language