Turkey’s Roma cry for help as coronavirus claims more lives
On International Romani Day, a group of Turkish Roma associations protested that the community still faces “deep discrimination” and risks starvation from the loss of work and state neglect that have compounded the harm of COVID-19.
Turkey’s long-marginalized Roma population is marking April 8, International Romani Day, with emergency appeals for help as they grapple with the fallout from the global coronavirus pandemic saying they are among the hardest hit.
In a bitterly worded declaration, 48 Roma associations said they continued to face “deep discrimination” and that their people’s biggest battle currently was not so much against COVID-19 as with the starvation likely to ensue from loss of work and state neglect.
“The Roma are unable to avail themselves equally of their most basic rights. When they try to do so they face discrimination and serious obstacles,” the statement read.
The groups charged that predominantly Roma neighborhoods were not being disinfected by municipal authorities on the grounds that “Roma carry the virus anyway.” The statement did not identify the neighborhoods by name.
