BY TURGUT TARHANLI
RADIKAL- Columnist Turgut Tarhanli writes on the right to self-determination in relation to Turkey. A summary of his column is as follows:
The right to self-determination is once again the buzz among Ankara’s political circles. On June 4, the Parliament ratified two United Nations documents, namely the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The two documents share a first article in common: ‘All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.’
Certain domestic circles have recently argued that these covenants pose a grave threat to Turkey’s territorial integrity. First of all, let’s not forget that these are legal documents, both signed by nearly 150 states worldwide. In other words, most of the countries of the world are signatory parties to these covenants. There are certain important points here: These peoples who are the ‘subjects’ of the right to self-determination refer to a nation living in a country, rather than a group of people. Historically speaking, the reason why this right was accepted as an international principle was to eliminate colonialism. During the colonial period, since the subjects of the colonization process were communities which had not organized themselves into nation-states, the United Nations had to use the term ‘peoples’ rather than nations. As a matter of fact, the preamble of the UN Charter begins, ‘We the peoples of the United Nations determined,’ and the first article states that one of the purposes of the UN is ‘to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.’ As we all know, Turkey has been bound by the UN Charter for nearly 60 years now.
The most important tool of international law to end colonialism was the right to self-determination. Therefore, the subjects of this right are colonized people, people whose territories were occupied by foreign countries and those oppressed under the tyranny of foreign powers. The rights of such countries to form independent states or to integrate with another country are recognized by international law. However, destruction of an already established and internationally recognized country’s territorial integrity would also constitute a breach of international law. In other words, no one can claim the right to self-determination within the territories of an internationally recognized country.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION