An annual survey of hate crimes by the New York-based nongovernmental organization Human Rights First (HRF) shows that Turks living abroad are subject to many types of hate crimes and that in Turkey, despite legal safeguards, societal abuse and discrimination based on religious intolerance also occur.


Hate crimes based on sexual orientation are also a problem in Turkey. The survey, which examines the 56 European and North American countries that make up the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), notes that Turkey as well as many other countries does not have an effective monitoring system in place for hate crimes.

This year the survey paid special attention to violence against Muslims, keeping track of it in a separate category. The survey shows that the geographic scope of anti-Muslim violence encompasses the entire OSCE region. Muslim women, because of the way they dress, are frequent targets of hate crimes.

"European and North American governments are failing to keep pace with a wave of violent hate crime that continues to rise across the region. Racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, anti-Muslim and anti-Roma hatred, religious intolerance, homophobia: the list of biases that fuel these crimes is a long one. Attacks range from lethal assaults to threats and harassment to vandalism and desecration of religious and community property" the report suggests.

The survey points out that although there is ample evidence of violence targeting Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims across Europe and North America, only five governments -- Austria, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States -- publicly report on violent incidents motivated by this form of bias.

HRF indicates that acts of aggression against Muslim individuals and places of worship are committed in the context of a longstanding strain of political discourse in Europe that projects immigrants in general and Muslims in particular as a threat not only to security but to European homogeneity and culture.

"Women who wear the hijab are particularly vulnerable to harassment and violence by those who wish to send a message of hatred. While law enforcement officials have responded to some of the more serious cases in several countries, underreporting remains a key problem, as most victims refrain from reporting attacks to the police," the report underlines.

It points out that incidents of violence and harassment against Muslims have become an everyday occurrence in many countries. Certain events periodically exacerbate the situation.

"Since 2001, foreign and domestic events have repeatedly led to periods of violent backlash against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim in North America and Europe," the report suggests. Examples of this backlash mention in the report include events which occurred in Denmark after its embassy in Pakistan was bombed:

"On June 2, 2008, a car bomb exploded outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing six people and wounding dozens, in an attack thought to be linked to al Qaeda threats in connection to the reprinting of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. The bombing appears to have sparked threats and acts of violence against Muslims in Denmark. On June 2, 2008, in Copenhagen, Kasem Said Ahmed, the former spokesperson of the Islamic Faith Society (IFS), was punched in the face after being asked if he was an imam. The victim believed the attack may have been a backlash response to the bombing of the Danish Embassy in Pakistan. That same day, the IFS reported that two women were threatened by hooded men on the way to a mosque in the Norrebro section of Copenhagen. The Islamic Faith Society says it also received hate mail demanding that it leave Denmark."

Racism and xenophobia

The report underlines that racism and xenophobia victimize a wide range of communities across Europe and North America because of their ethnicity and skin color. These communities include minorities, immigrants, citizens and non-citizens, longtime residents and newcomers. According to report, the Roma population is one of the main targets of these kinds of hate crimes along with Jews. The HRF elaborates on the racism and xenophobia in different countries and underlines the situation of Turks in Germany:

"In Germany, members of the large Turkish minority -- both German citizens and non-nationals -faced harassment and violence in many parts of the country. People of African and South Asian origin were also among the targets of persistent and sometimes extreme violence there. Foreign-owned shops were targeted for vandalism and arson; members of minorities were attacked in the street, at public events, and on public transport. In the state of Brandenburg alone, according to the NGO Gesicht Zeigen (Show Your Faces!), there were eleven recorded attacks on immigrant-run businesses, as part of what a representative of the organization called ‘a strategy to destroy livelihoods and drive out immigrants.' Members of minorities in Germany are routinely referred to as Ausländer (‘foreigners') regardless of their actual citizenship status."

Enlargement of EU new source of hate crimes

The report draws attention the enlargement of the European Union and the emerging patterns of racist violence which reflect immigration from new member states to other parts of the EU:

"Politicians across Europe capitalized on growing public xenophobia, contributing to anti-immigrant rhetoric and blaming immigrants for political, economic, and social problems. In a number of countries, social and political problems were blamed with new vigor on immigrant workers, including those from within the expanded European Union."

Hate crimes in Turkey

The HRF survey specifically discusses Turkey in the chapters on violence based on religious intolerance and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) individuals.

The report says freedom of religion is generally respected by the government and by most religious groups in Turkey and recognizes that conditions for religious freedom have improved in the past decade. However, some Muslim and Christian religious minorities continue to experience restrictions including "state policies and actions that effectively prevent [them] from sustaining themselves by denying them the right to own and maintain property, to train religious clergy, and to offer religious education above high school."

The report underlines that despite the legal safeguards, societal abuses and discrimination based on religious intolerance occur in Turkey.

"Although all non-Muslim groups have been victims of bias-motivated violence in the past, in recent years, predominantly affected are those groups, such as the relatively new Protestant community, that are engaged in legally-protected proselytizing activities, as well as Roman Catholics. Additionally, there have been reports of harassment by police of members of the Alevi Muslim minority community," the report indicates.

According to survey, the Turkish government generally responds adequately to the most serious attacks, conducting investigations and prosecuting perpetrators. It gives the example of Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro, who was killed in 2006 and whose murderer was sentenced in 2007 to 18 years, 10 months' imprisonment.

The report underlines that threats and violent attacks have taken place in the context of sometimes contradictory positions taken by government officials regarding certain aspects of religious freedom.

"To some extent, this reflects a society that is grappling with the growth in numbers of Protestant Christians who are ethnically Turkish, a relatively new phenomenon. For example, the Interior Ministry's Director General of Laws Niyazi Güney declared to Turkish parliamentarians that 'missionary work is even more dangerous than terrorism and unfortunately is not considered a crime in Turkey.' In contrast, when asked by the media whether missionary work was in fact a danger to Turkey, Religious Affairs Director Ali Bardakoğlu responded by reaffirming the right to share one's beliefs: 'It is their natural right. We must learn to respect even the personal choice of an atheist, let alone other religions.'"

Regarding hate crimes based on sexual orientation, the HRF cites a report by Human Rights Watch.

"The vulnerable social position of gay men and transgender people was characterized as ‘living in fear' and ‘a social hell.' The interviewed lesbian and bisexual women reported pressure, often extreme, from their families. Some were constrained to undergo psychological or psychiatric ‘help' to ‘change' their sexual orientation. Many faced physical violence. This situation has been referred to as a balance between ‘silence and violence.'"

The HRF also gives advice to governments when combating hate crimes: "Acknowledge and condemn violent hate crimes whenever they occur; enact laws that expressly address hate crimes; strengthen enforcement and prosecute offenders; provide adequate instructions and resources to law enforcement bodies; undertake parliamentary, inter-agency or other special inquiries into the problem of hate crimes; monitor and report on hate crimes; create and strengthen antidiscrimination bodies; reach out to community groups; speak out against official intolerance and bigotry and encourage international cooperation on hate crimes."

Todays Zaman