Any traveler in Central or Eastern Europe will likely meet or see someone of Roma (Gypsy) descent. If said traveler happens to strike up a conversation with a friendly Bulgarian, Romanian or Slovak, there is a good chance that the traveler will be warned about “the dark people who will steal your money.”
Although it varies in its intensity, such appalling anti-Roma racism can be found in almost anywhere in Europe (Turkey included).
In a move reminiscent of its fascist past, Italy’s interior minister has ordered the fingerprinting of all Roma.
Roma in Slovakia live as second class citizens and face discrimination and violence that calls Jim Crow-era Mississippi to mind. Amazingly, Slovakia undertook municipal ethnic cleansing campaigns while a member of the European Union.
Roma in Turkey, like Roma in the rest of Europe, report discrimination in the areas of employment, justice and housing.
It is well and good that the European Union holds prospective member states to strict human rights standards. However, it might be even better if current EU states lived up to those standards.
