Turkey

Kurdish refugees in 2015. (PHOTO: Czech Television)

Romani NGOs around Europe ask why the OSCE is researching alleged radicalization of their communities in Serbia
18.7.2018 15:16 Representatives of Romani organizations from around Europe have contacted the head of the OSCE's mission to Serbia to express their alarm over the 10 July 2018 announcement of a search for a “Researcher on Radicalization among the Roma Community in Serbia”. The Romani representatives say they are deeply concerned about the growing insecurity of Roma in Europe as a result of extremist antigypsyism in a number of OSCE participating States.full story

German court sentences neo-Nazi to life in prison
11.7.2018 17:43 Beate Zschäpe, the main defendant in the trial of members of the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi group, will spend the rest of her life in a German prison according to a sentence handed down against her today by the High Court in the state of Munich, who found her guilty of 10 murders. Deutsche-Presse Agentur reported that her co-defendant Ralf Wohlleben, who supplied the group with weapons, was given a 10-year sentence. full story
AMER: Human rights defenders in Turkey should be released immediately!
7.7.2017 15:19 The situation in Turkey is serious. Association for Monitoring Equal Rights/AMER published a statement calling for the release of human rights defenders. Our news server Romea.cz publishes it in its entirety. Human rights defenders in Turkey should be released immediately! full story
Turkey: Roma Families in Istanbul Face Continued Gentrification
23.6.2017 13:45 Civil society organizations have been reporting that over the past decade, Roma families in Turkey have been forced to repeatedly uproot their families in search of new residences. These migrations have occurred in response to an unparalleled boom in construction that has replaced small homes in Roma neighborhoods with apartment blocks created to serve clients with higher incomes. full story
Czech Republic to chair Council of Europe, claims human rights are a priority
5.5.2017 10:48 The Czech Republic will take up the presidency of the Council of Europe on 19 May and says that it will emphasize human rights, the rule of law, support for democracy and education. Those priorities for the presidency have been approved by the Czech Government, according to a tweet by cabinet spokesperson Martin Ayrer. full story
Turkey: Dom refugees from Syria find refuge in the Tarlabaşi neighborhood of Istanbul
21.9.2016 20:38 The British newspaper The Guardian has reported that children from a community known in Syria as the Dom can be seen these days selling bottled water to drivers passing through the northwestern part of Istanbul in the area around Taksim Square. Due to the crisis in the Middle East, an estimated 26 000 members of that community are now homeless. full storyTurkey faces criticism for planned abolition of punishment for the sexual abuse of children
16.8.2016 16:21 On the basis of a request from a lower court, Turkey's Constitutional Court decided last month to abolish a provision regulating the punishment of sexual crimes committed against children younger than 15. The district court had complained that current legislation does not distinguish between age groups and treats children between age 4 and age 14 equivalently. full story
Slovak accommodation facility refuses students from Turkey, Foreign Ministry says that is discriminatory
5.8.2016 14:57 An accommodation facility in Bratislava recently refused to accommodate students from Turkey and is being criticized by both the Slovak Foreign Ministry and theTurkish Embassy. The facility owners said that for safety reasons they do not accommodate "people from Turkey and Arab countries". full story

Czech Republic to receive 10 refugees from camps in Greece and as many as 80 Syrians from camps in Turkey
28.7.2016 21:57 The Czech Republic will be receiving 10 refugees from camps in Greece on the basis of the redistribution quotas approved by the European Union last year. Three of the families from there have already undergone a security clearance. full story
Turkey's first Romani television station to begin online broadcast
12.11.2015 21:15 The Turkish edition of CNN and other media outlets report that Ahmet Çokyaşar, the chair of the Turkish Romani Confederation, says giving Romani people a voice and providing a different perspective on them from the one produced by other media outlets is the main aim of the first Romani television station in Turkey, which will begin broadcasting on 20 November. The station, called "Roman TV", will first begin broadcasting in Romani and Turkish through the Internet full story
Dom refugees from Syria tell ERRC "We just want to live"
3.10.2015 2:07 Members of the Dom minority have been subjected to decades of discrimination in Syria and across the Middle East. Now that they are fleeing Syria and seeking refuge in neighboring countries, they are experiencing discrimination on a whole new set of grounds as asylum-seekers. full story
EU approves refugee redistribution quotas, extraordinary summit says chaos must end
24.9.2015 20:55 On 22 September the interior ministers of the EU-28 cast a majority vote to approve quotas for redistribution of refugees among EU countries. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec tweeted that those opposed were the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, while Finland abstained. full story
Juan de Dios Ramírez-Heredia: Hunger and fear are stronger than barbed-wire fences
23.9.2015 1:32 The following opinion piece by Juan de Dios Ramírez-Heredia, former Member of the European Parliament and current President of the Spanish Romani Union, was first distributed through the Roma Virtual Network on 17 September 2015 and is reprinted here with permission.full story