Controversy over Syriac names in Turkey

ARAMAIC WATCH:

Turkey’s Syriacs demanding right to own names

Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Vercihan Ziflioğlu
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s Syriac community, who adopted Turkish surnames, now want their original surnames back. Yet, a top cour says that the laws don’t allow such a move.

Members of Turkey’s Syriac Christian community are leading a legal struggle to adopt last names that reflect their identity despite a Constitutional Court ruling earlier this year that barred one Syriac from altering his last name.

[...]

The issue may be brought to the attention of the European Court of Human Rights.

(HT Abu 'l-Rayhan Al-Biruni.)