“Non-Muslims should be seen as citizens, too”

Yaşar BİLDİRİCİ

Laki Vingas

Turkish Republic Prime Ministry (TRPM) Directorate General of Foundations has been frequently mentioned in media especially regarding the restitution of real estates owned by minority communities and the relations between those foundations and the State. Laki Vingas, a member of Foundations Assembly at TRPM Directorate General of Foundations and a representative for Minority Foundations completed his term at the end of 2014. We talked to Mr. Vingas about his last six years in TRPM Directorate General of Foundations

At a time when Turkey was going through an important phase, you were a member of Foundations Assembly at T.R.P.M.Directorate General of Foundations...In your relations with Ankara you have reflected our sincerity, on every level. The momentum you’ve created increased as you developed bilateral relations primarily with Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc and Director General Adnan Ertem. During your term, what exactly did you do?

For six years, I strived to represent all of our foundations. Also, I tried to get to know and understand the communities. I tried to discover social aspects and internal balance of the communities. After all, if you do not do this, it is not possible for you to successfully represent those communities.

I was the first person to do this job. I had no job description. I would be the representative of 166 different foundations most of which were Turkish-Greek and Armenian. In other words, I would represent large communities all with their individual voices- except the Jewish Community. Among those communities were structures that think differently, practice differently or put up resistance differently. Therefore, you can never truly say that you are representing 3-4 communities. Maybe you can say that for Jewish Community, since Jews have this kind of structure based on hierarchy and traditions. As a matter of fact, even though during my term I’ve worked with three different leaders, Jewish Community due to its structure was the community I could get along and empathize with, most easily. This was due to traditions and a more centralized structure.

According to my job description, I am a member of Foundations Assembly. I am the person who establishes contact with TRPM Directorate General of Foundations. There are fifteen members in the Assembly. I am one of them. Five of those members are elected, the second five- general director, assistant general directors and legal counsels- are from within the system and the last five are appointed by a joint ordinance signed by the President, the Prime Minister and relevant Minister. In other words, the members are determined by the President and the Prime Minister’s joint will and this is an important thing. The development of this structure within TRPM Directorate General of Foundations has set us a significant paradigm. This paradigm at least brought a new tradition for the non-Muslim communities and improved the dialogue between communities. It also built a solid foundation that reinforced trust among our communities.

When people complete a task, they draw up a balance sheet. How do you see your balance sheet?

We have achieved important results. Regarding the restitution of real estates, we did not proceed as much as we wanted. Indeed, we did come a long way; however we should have accomplished more since this was a process that started in 2002-2003. Here we are in 2015 and the process is still not complete. We have to accelerate the process and remove the issue from our agenda. Since political authorities see this as a “restitution of rights” and say “we are not doing this as a favor for the communities” and also since this approach is politically endorsed, we should have completed this process, by now. Unfortunately, we couldn’t.

In one of your interviews you said, “We are going through a sincerity test.” This is what I see: today, non-Muslim communities are very sincere when it comes to their relations with the Government. They don’t even have a single ulterior motive. However, the Government is not agile enough to make a significant progress. It’s obvious that on certain levels they are experiencing some difficulties.

Yes, it’s true. However it’s also about the generation. Our generation puts up more resistance than other generations. The younger generations, especially the ones with an academic background are more self-confident. The current situation has a long historical and sociological aspect. We are communities that were shunned for many years and labeled as “aliens and as people who endanger national security”.

Unfortunately, we have been defined as such for most of the Republic Period. There are certain perceptions imbedded in people’s subconscious. It’s impossible to address these issues in only 3-5 years.

Minority communities see this country as their homeland. They are born here, they live here and they die here...But, we are constantly living with fear and anxiety. These feelings have been built up throughout history. We also experience some difficulties in processes. Unfortunately, these difficulties support old perceptions; therefore, political authorities should work with us with more discipline and no prejudice. In 2011, when Recep Tayyip Erdogan was Prime Minister, he issued a circular letter. He told his administrative chiefs “Members of minority communities are our equals. Address their issues, their problems without discrimination and get results.” Why would he do that? If it wasn’t necessary, would the Prime Minister issue such a circular letter? By the way, we were very happy with the letter... However, when you look at it from another angle, the need for such an instruction was bad...We are spending all our energy on fighting for our rights and freedoms we are normally entitled to. When we make even a small progress, we feel obligated to express our gratitude. In general society, there is a similar expectation; they ask us, “Aren’t you at a better place than yesterday?” Yes, we are. But, we want to compare our current place with the place we are supposed to be, not the place we were at yesterday because our younger generations and our children need to relieve themselves of this trauma. We want to be freer. We want better conditions. We want to participate more. We want to participate in the general society. We want take initiative. We don’t just want to exploit joint social projects; we want to make our own contributions. We are not only looking to get money from EU projects or use incentives provided by the Government. We want to give, too. But, to do that, those opportunities should be created.

Members of non-Muslim communities should be seen as citizens, too. A Jewish citizen has the right to speak his mind with his free will. You may like it, or not. If you do not like what he says, this should not bind the whole community.

Turkish Jews have experienced a lot of difficulties lately due to the tense relations between Turkey and Israel...

In this recent period, I had the chance to empathize with Jewish Community; I understood them, better. I’ve seen the great distress within the Turkey-Israel-Gaza triangle; I’ve observed that Turkish Jews paid a price. Despite the fact that they do not have any kind of political initiative, they are paying a serious price. Sometimes, people want to quantify this price with a mathematical approach. They ask, “Don’t they own a house, don’t they own a summer house, don’t they travel abroad?” Nobody believes that there could be poor people within the Jewish Community. However, if we get closer, if we get to know one another and if we tune to the same frequency, we will actually have much better results.

From this aspect, Mr. Arinc and Mr. Ertem’s point of view is important…

The society in general is important, not just senior level. The society’s education and point of view is important because they are the ones you live with in the same apartment building and not Mr. Arinc or Mr. Ertem. This is not something we can overcome in two, three years. Therefore, we should value education, more. In the long run, if they want these historical communities to be a part of this country and not just a valuable ornament on display, if they want those communities to contribute to this country’s development, the sociological aspect of this issue should be assessed.

23 July

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“Non-Muslims should be seen as citizens, too”

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