The Turkish Assembly has approved the twelfth article of the draft constitution which guarantees “full equality before the law of all citizens without distinction of language, race, faith and religion.”
During debate on the article, Mrs. Kaludi Leskaris, representing the Greek community at the Assembly, said that members of minorities were not admitted to the Turkish public service. She said non-Moslems could study at the universities and that they did their national service like all other citizens but they were still discriminated against in the field of public service. She asked for full equality in this area.
Muammer Aksoy, chairman of the draft constitution committee, replied that the new constitution would provide equality for all citizens in all fields and that “we hope the principle will be applied in practice.” Jew along with other minority group members, are usually not accepted for Government positions.
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