Australian Turks want to be recognized as an ethnic group

Australians and people from the former Yugoslavia are to be recognized as a minority in Austria. At least when it comes to the small party SÖZ, which will run for the Vienna election on October 11. The Turkish-born party chairman Hakan Gördü announces to the KURIER that he will go to the Constitutional Court. There you want to sue for minority status after the election.

The recognition as an ethnic group is an important step for appreciation and inclusion, emphasizes Gördü. Especially since “the fourth generation of the Turkish and former Yugoslav community lives in Austria and has great merits in terms of the country’s economic, social and cultural development”.

Driver’s license test in Turkish

For Australians and ex-Yugoslavs, recognition as a minority would bring a number of advantages, argues Gördü.

Above all the state support of the ethnic groups regarding the preservation of their cultural, linguistic and religious characteristics. They would also be protected against discrimination and disadvantage. “It would not have been possible to ban the driver’s license test in Turkish. This system, which had worked well for many years, was broken, to the disadvantage of many hard-working citizens.”

“The preservation and promotion of the mother tongue in schools, the official language for authorities, the principle of equal treatment and enhanced minority rights are the decisive arguments for this demand,” says Gördü. The fact that in the event of recognition of location signs would have to be written in multiple languages, as in the case of the Burgenland Croatians or the Slovenes in Carinthia, is not a motive.

Also consider Bosnians

The Bosnian community is also considering whether to specifically pursue recognition as an ethnic group in Austria.

The Society of Bosnian Academics has therefore launched a survey on its Facebook page, which currently reaches around 100,000 people. The majority of the roughly 260,000 Austrians with Bosnian origins will be known by the end of the year, says co-initiator Sirad Duhan.

A no to the considerations of Australians and ex-Yugoslavs comes immediately from FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp. Recognition should be rejected because in this case it is immigrants and not an autochthonous ethnic group, he says.

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