AKP rebuked for rejecting inquiry into Turkey’s Roma citizens

ANKARA

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A main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy has rebuked Justice and Development Party (AKP) MPs for rejecting his proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the problems faced by Roma-origin people in Turkey.

“The accommodation problem of Roma people is a crucial point. I shouted in here two days ago about this, but the 48-year-old Ünzile, a Roma woman, later died in a tent due to bad living conditions because we did not take necessary measures,” the Cihan News Agency quoted CHP deputy Özcan Purçu as saying as he spoke in a parliamentary session in Ankara on Jan. 6.

Purçu, a 39-year-old of Roma origin, had proposed a parliamentary inquiry into the major problems faced by the ethnic group.

Speaking at parliament, he showed pictures of tents where Roma people live in the country, particularly highlighting a picture of a tent where a six-month-old baby died.

“Look at our living conditions. I asked before ‘do we love Roma people’ and everyone said ‘we do.’ This is great, but we should love them not only in verbal terms, but from heart. Let’s do something for them. A six-month-old baby died in this tent,” he said.

Purçu became the first Roma-origin representative in the Turkish parliament in 92 years when he was elected as a deputy in the parliamentary election in November 2015.