The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) held a consultation meeting with representatives of the Romani community on Wednesday in Ankara.
The party’s deputy chair, Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, told the representatives that the Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change worked on a comprehensive plan for urban transformation in neighborhoods heavily populated by the Romani community.
Türkiye’s ambitious urban transformation projects involve the construction of new residences and commercial spaces to replace decades-old, decrepit buildings at the risk of collapse. The underprivileged Romani community, the majority of members of which are impoverished and at risk of poverty, has been among the inhabitants of such buildings.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Kaya highlighted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s admiration for the Romani community and said they witnessed that the feelings were mutual. Erdoğan grew up in a working-class neighborhood of Istanbul with a large population of Romani citizens. She stated that they planned to hold a major event with the participation of Erdoğan on April 8, International Roma Day, but scrapped the plans due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Kaya stated that they aim to maintain a close dialogue with Romani citizens and Roma representatives within the ministry in the provinces. “We emphasize maintaining close dialogue and contact with you and producing solutions to your problems,” she said.
“Our Ministry of Environment has promised us a project, especially within the scope of urban transformation, aimed at the neighborhoods where our Romani brothers and sisters live. We will carry out our work,” she pledged.
Romani citizens have long been treated as second-class citizens in Türkiye, but affirmative action under the leadership of Erdoğan changed this state mindset. In 2016, Türkiye announced an action plan as part of the government’s Romani Initiative to improve the living conditions. The president, who attended Romani conventions that brought together representatives of the community, was also the first to apologize to the community in 2010 for the Turkish state’s past policies depriving the community of their rights.
Education and employment pose serious challenges to the Romani community, although their situation has improved with a string of projects in recent years. Most Romani citizens work at low-level positions and low-paying jobs due to their limited access to education. The government has worked to help them access better jobs with better social security and seeks to encourage participation in free vocational training courses where participants are automatically employed in public services and private companies once they complete the training.
