Turkey calls on international community to protect diaspora communities

Turkey’s deputy Foreign Minister has called on the international community, especially European nations, to protect Diaspora communities in their countries, citing the rise in xenophobia and Islamophobia throughout the world.

Speaking via videoconference to the Global Diaspora Summit – organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Dublin – Yavuz Selim Kıran stated that Turkey calls on “the international community to take concrete steps to eliminate all forms of discrimination against Diasporas”.

Using as an example the large Turkish diaspora community – which exceeds 6.5 million people worldwide, of which 5.5 million live in Western European countries – Kıran stated that it “is well integrated into the countries they live in and they have become valuable members of the society they live in”.

According to the deputy Foreign Minister, an example of the integration includes over 2,600 politicians in Europe and the US being of Turkish origin, of which were eight members of the European Parliament, three ministers, and 91 deputies.

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That is also the case in terms of business and economy, with 100,000 Turkish businesses in Germany alone – a key destination for Turkish immigrants and which has Turks as its largest minority – reportedly generating an annual income of 50 billion euros ($54.8 billion).

“The founders of BioNTech, Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin, are an important example of the Diasporas being a strong driving force for sustainable development,” Kıran said. “We make every effort to strengthen the well-being of the Turkish community abroad.”

He added, however, that a primary obstruction to the Turkish Diaspora and other Diaspora communities is the rising tide of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and Islamophobia throughout Western nations, particularly in Europe.

The Minister urged countries to implement greater measures to protect minorities and Diaspora communities, referring to them as a source of enormous remittances and a key part of the global economy and movement of wealth. As an example of such measures, he stated that Ankara wants to see “a more open approach to cooperation in meeting the educational and religious needs of the Turkish society.”

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