The Rodimata Project Opening Meeting was held

The Rodimata Project, carried out by the Zero Discrimination Association in partnership with the Social Change Association and supported by the Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul, was held on Thursday, May 29th between 14:00-16:30 in the meeting hall of the Consulate General of Sweden.

In the first session of the meeting, attended by approximately 30 people from public institutions, universities, Romani civil society organizations and human rights organizations, the general situation of Romani and communities living like Romani, the point reached in social inclusion and the role played by various stakeholders in this process were discussed. In the second session of the meeting, the goals of the Rodimata project and the activities aimed to be carried out with this project were introduced and the said goals were opened to discussion.

In her speech titled “The General Situation of Romani and Groups Living Like Romani in Turkey”, Rodimata Project Coordinator and Zero Discrimination Association Board Chair Elmas Arus stated that it is not possible to talk about a homogeneous “Roma” society in Turkey. The society that began to be called “Roma” with the “Roma Initiative” is a society that has historically been marginalized under the name of “Gypsy” and has been the victim of social exclusion and has a diversity in terms of language, culture and ethnic characteristics. This diversity stems from the existence of Rom, Dom, Lom and Abdal groups. According to Arus, the gathering of all groups of such a diverse society under the identity of “Roma” causes other non-Roma groups (Dom, Lom and Abdal) to feel excluded from the process. Defining the identity narrowly and in a way that ignores the diversity within itself will cause the existing grievances to deepen. Arus stated that conceptualizing the identity in an inclusive manner is of great importance in determining the public policies that will be formulated and implemented for this identity.

In his speech titled “The Role of Turkish Civil Society in the Roma Issue”, Levent Şensever, Secretary General of the Social Change Association, stated that the Roma issue, which includes multidimensional and structural problems, is not only an issue for Roma and invited all human rights organizations to work on this issue. Şensever particularly emphasized that the main role of civil society organizations operating in this regard should be to remind the public of the obligations they must fulfill regarding the social inclusion of Roma. Şensever, who touched upon the importance of non-Roma civil society organizations cooperating with Roma NGOs, emphasized that since the Roma issue and the problems experienced by Roma are not a widely known issue in Turkey, it is of great importance to conduct awareness-raising activities in the public on this issue.

In her speech titled “The Role of Public Institutions in the Roma Issue”, Dr. P. Elif Ekmekçi Bor, Head of the European Union Department of the General Directorate of Foreign Affairs and European Union of the Ministry of Health, stated that neither the public, nor civil society, nor individuals are in a position to speak alone in terms of producing solutions to the problems experienced by Roma in terms of social rights. According to Ekmekçi, all stakeholders/actors who are parties to the issue have certain advantages brought by their own positions when approaching the issue. It is important to create participatory processes that can bring together the perspectives of different stakeholders and the advantages of different positions in formulating successful policies to be developed for the solution of the problems.

In the second session of the meeting, Rodimata Project Assistant Gonca Şahin stated that there is a need to develop urgent, applicable and permanent policies, especially in the areas of education, health, housing and employment, to improve the situation of Romani communities in Turkey. She stated that the Rodimata project aims to be a tool for the development of the actions and programs needed to improve the current situation of Romani communities within a period of 12 months.

The meeting ended with the contributions and suggestions shared by the participants regarding the project in the session moderated by Zero Discrimination Association Board Member Hatice Çetinkaya.