The International Roma Union - IRU and its president Zoran Dimov, and all IRU delegates who are more than 60 from 50 countries sent an appeal to the UN, the European Union, international organizations, associations of the Roma diaspora and all international actors to urgently help the Roma, as well as to other vulnerable citizens of Turkey in the area of seismic movements (earthquake).

According to the IRU, the delegate from the Republic of Turkey Kemal Vural Tarlan with his organization Kırkayak Kültü from Gaziantep states that the exact number of dead and injured is not yet known, but it is known that about 200,000 Roma lived in the area of the ten threatened cities.

Their houses have been destroyed and it is appealed, except for the Roma, to help everyone. IRU deeply believes in and supports good relations between Turks and Roma who are citizens of Turkey.

At the same time, the IRU expressed its condolences to the President of Turkey, Recep Tayip Erdogan.

During the IRU Parliamentary Session that was held in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia on June 1, the IRU delegate from Germany Sevgul Sali had his part in the presentation about some of his activities in the country where he works and is active. Among other things, he mentioned during the presentation: "The discrimination of Roma and Sinti - both immigrant and local families - in the German education system, which has been repeatedly proven in studies, is one of the results of centuries of stigmatization of Roma and Sinti as supposedly unintegrable "gypsies". Therefore, the vast majority of families today prefer not to be "recognized" as Roma or Sinti at school. Therefore, the educational success of these families can hardly be perceived by teachers.

Especially socially disadvantaged families perceive the formal education and employment system as closed and inaccessible due to discrimination. Non-formal education and employment are seen as more promising and are sometimes interpreted as part of cultural identity. On the other hand, the problematic behavior of individual students or Roma families in school and society is too often generalized and seen as "typical for Roma", even more so when families describe their informal orientation as "typical Roma". As we have already mentioned, the many formed Roma or Sinti families are not noticed. Schools often associate "being Roma" with low expectations for success in education. Roma or Sinti are rarely part of teams and shared history and the many contributions of Roma and Sinti to European development are not discussed in classes, making it difficult for classmates and parents to appreciate Roma culture and history.

Overcoming this disadvantage through the work of Roma as educational mediators therefore focuses on anti-discrimination AND social and educational inclusion. The reason for the disadvantage, which affects only Roma and Sinti in this form, can only be solved by gradually breaking down stereotypes and increasing the expectations of success from all sides when it comes to equal participation in education for Roma and Sinti. The explicit stigmatization of Roma and Sinti requires an explicit response. Social disadvantage, on the other hand, affects the poor Sinti and Roma, as well as other families - local as well as immigrants. The same support for all children in need is also necessary to avoid envy and resentment and not to inflame resentment against Roma and Sinti. In addition, Roma educational mediators, as sympathizers of all children, are a counter-model to the racist clichés that can be spread at home.

Therefore, the EU Commission proposes to promote improved access to education for children from disadvantaged Roma and Sinti families through explicit measures (for Roma and Sinti) that are not exclusive to local implementation, but are available to all children as support.

The ten common basic principles for the inclusion of socially vulnerable Roma families (resolution of the Council of Social Ministers of the EU from 2010) emphasize the need for targeted measures that are explicitly aimed at such families in order to ensure their effective inclusion in projects. At the same time, according to the existing capacities, all other persons who need support should be included in the implementation of the measures, in order not to act on the measures and strengthen the existing dissatisfaction towards the Roma.„

IRU, as the oldest and largest International Roma Organization, together with its President Zoran Dimov, as well as its membership, is preparing a response to the relevant institutions in the Republic of Turkey, as well as to the European Union and the UN, due to the received information about the unequal treatment of the Roma community in rehabilitation. and helping the Roma community in the region that was affected by the catastrophic earthquake on February 6 of this year, with the epicenter in the Pazardzhik district of the Kahramanmaras province. IRU and concerned according to the information from the IRU delegate from Turkey, Mr. Kemal Vural Tarlan who is himself from the city of Gaziantep which was affected by the catastrophic earthquake.

The earthquake hit the neighboring provinces of Adiyaman, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, as well as Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana and Hatay, where about 13.5 million people live, including about 2 million Syrian refugees. According to the WHO, the affected regions in Turkey and Syria are home to about 23 million people, including 1.4 million children. But that number also includes the Roma community, which is percentageally large in those parts.

According to the latest data, over 40,000 people lost their lives, and over 110,000 people were injured. But unfortunately, the number of the Roma community is not known. Damage surveys show that 56,080 buildings and structures in 10 provinces have collapsed or are severely damaged. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport reported that a total of 237,000 people were evacuated from the disaster area.

But the question arises whether the Roma from these provinces are adequately taken care of or are they left to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, all this information is currently unavailable, but the IRU is preparing a reaction that will be forwarded to the relevant institutions in the Republic of Turkey, as well as to the European Union and the UN and other international institutions, in order to lead in these extremely difficult moments for that people who are located in those parts of Turkey, including the Roma, so that they are not forgotten by the state and international institutions, including the people of Syria and the Roma from those regions.

Povodom dana 11.03.2023 izjave gradonačelnika Beograda Aleksandra Šapića o integraciji Roma, svoju reakciju i Protesnu notu šalje I  Internacionlna Romska Unija - IRU u ime svih njenih 70 članova I delegata iz 50 zemalja iz celog sveta.

Internacionalna Romska Unija poziva Presednika Republike Srbije g-dina Aleksanda Vučiča, presednika Vlade Republike Srbija Ana Brnabič, do skupštine Republike Srbije , svih poslanika a naročito do poslanika Romske nacionalnosti Nataša Tasič Knezevič, Dragoljub Ackovič, Sandra Jokovič, zatim poverenicu za zaštitu ravnopravnosti da reaguje na nedavne izjave gradonačelnika Beograda Aleksandra Šapića u medijima, koje se odnose na romsku zajednicu u Beogradu. Govoreći za medije povodom nedavne tragedije u jednom od „divljih“ beogradskih romskih naselja, kada je stradalo jednoipogodišnje dete, gradonačelnik Beograda tvrdio je da problem divljih naselja nije rešen jer, kako je istakao, Romi neće da žive u malim sredinama, ne zadržavaju dugo u stanovima koji im se dodeljuju i demoliraju ih i da vode život na način koji ugrožava ne samo njih, već i druge Beograđane. Takođe, u istoj izjavi Rome opisuje kao ljude koji prose, kradu i sakupljaju sekundarne sirovine.

Internacionalna Romska Unia - IRU je na stavu da takva generalizacija pojačava uveliko prisutne i jako izražene stereotipe i negativne stavove prema Romskoj zajednici, koja već pati od društvene isključenosti, siromaštva, stigmatizacije i diskriminacije.

Internaciona Romska Unija - IRU upozorava da su ovakve izjave opasne, pogotovu kada dolaze od ljudi koji su na visokim pozicijama i uživaju određeni ugled u društvu, i poziva na poštovanje ljudskih prava svih građana, bez obzira na njihovu nacionalnost, veroispovest ili etničko poreklo. Pozivamo gradonačelnika Beograda, Aleksandra Šapića da preduzme mere za osnaživanje i integraciju Romskih zajednica, umesto da ih stigmatizuje i izoluje, i tražimo da iskoristi sve dostupne mehanizme I sredstva da pruži podršku obrazovanju, zapošljavanju i poboljšanju stambenih uslova, kao i uklanjanju barijera koje romskoj zajednici sprečavaju pristup pravima i uslugama.

Pored toga, Internacionalna Romska Unija – IRU  poziva na podizanje svesti javnosti o diskriminaciji i stigmatizaciji kojoj su Romi izloženi. Pozivamo sve državne institucije , ukjljučujuči I presednika Aleksandra Vučiča, Premiera Ana Brnabič kao I svi ostali da se uključe u izgradnju inkluzivnog društva koje poštuje različitosti i promoviše solidarnost.

Nadamo se da će gradonačelnik preduzeti potrebne korake da se Romskoj zajednici pruži potrebna podrška i da će se osigurati da se takve izjave više nikada ne čuju.

Zbog toga se ovom problemu mora pristupiti pažljivo, uz suštinsko razumevanje svih okolnosti i poštovanje  osnovnih ljudskih prava svih građana i uključivanje njihovih predstavnika, organizacija civilnog društva i drugih državnih aktera.

Važno bi bilo da gradonačelnik glavnog grada jedne evropske zemlje shvati zašto je opasna  diskriminatorna retorika i da se zbog toga I javno izvini.

To bi značilo da treba da se okrene “novi list” , u suprotnom IRU če biti primoran da reaguje I do međunarodne institucije zbog vakvih “ispada”, a ako I država ne reaguje , to zaniči da I Republika Srbija “aminuje” izjavu gradonačalnika Beograda Aleksandra Šapiča.

Dana 12.mart 2023

Zoran Dimov

President of the

International Romani Union – IRU