Calmy-Rey speaks out for women and minorities
The Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, has made a plea in favour of women’s and minorities’ rights on the second day of her official trip to Turkey.
During a visit on Wednesday to the city of Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country, Calmy-Rey said that the application of reforms in those areas was still lacking.
“Over the past years, the Turkish government has made big efforts and passed numerous reforms, mainly concerning human rights,” she commented after talks with the leaders of a local non-governmental organisation called Ka-Mer.
But she underlined: “I have been told from all sides that they have not been put into practice without hitches”.
Calmy-Rey commented that the application of new laws would take time because mentalities had to be changed.
Minority rights
She wished for “the extension and consolidation” of reforms, particularly in the areas of freedom of speech and women’s rights.
As a Swiss from a multicultural and multilingual country, Calmy-Rey said she had been particularly interested in minority rights.
“Experience has shown us [in Switzerland] it is essential for national cohesion that minorities have the means to defend their cultural rights,” she said.
Calmy-Rey pointed to progress made in the fields of education and media, commenting that it was a positive sign that television stations could broadcast in several languages and that education could be taught in Kurdish.
But local journalists told the Swiss News Agency that only one private school gave lessons in Kurdish in Diyarbakir.
Kurdish
And only one private television channel, Gün-TV, had been offering programmes in Kurdish over the past year.
They explained that before that, the channel could only broadcast music or publicity in Kurdish.
As for public television, there were only two weekly half-hour programmes in Kurdish, which contained translated national news dating from the previous week.
Another concern of the Swiss foreign minister during her stay in what is a poor and rural part of the country was economic development.
Calmy-Rey said it had a “big economic delay to catch up on”. After talks with the governor and the mayor of Diyarbakir, she said there was a “clear need to act” on the issue.
Humanitarian aid
She recalled that Switzerland is supporting several humanitarian aid projects in the region.
The Swiss foreign ministry is contributing SFr3.7 million ($3.1 million) over several years to help fund four NGOs in Diyarbakir.
Ka-Mer, which defends the rights of women victims of violence, received SFr38,000 in 2004.
On the final day of her trip, Calmy-Rey is due to give an address to Swiss and Turkish business leaders in Istanbul on Switzerland’s position in Europe and its relations with Turkey.
swissinfo with agencies
About a half of all Kurds live in Turkey. They are one of the largest populations without their own state.
With the creation of modern Turkey in 1923, they lost their status as a minority.
In its closer links to the European Union, Ankara has pledged to respect minority rights in the future.
A new Turkish law allows the 12 million Kurds to be educated in Kurdish, and permits Kurdish radio and television programmes.
The Swiss foreign ministry is supporting four non-governmental organisations in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
It is contributing SFr3.7 million ($3.1 million) spread over a number of years.
The NGOs are combating domestic violence and violence against children, as well as promoting women’s education.
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