News about a citizen who made a reservation for a hotel offering service in Antalya through a foreign website, but was later discovered to be Turkish, being charged an additional fee for a "nationality difference" appeared in the written and visual media.

Prohibition of discrimination constitutes one of the universal principles of human rights. Putting individuals or groups at a disadvantage in terms of enjoying fundamental rights and freedoms compared to other individuals or groups due to their race, nationality, color and/or ethnic origin leads to violation of the prohibition of discrimination. People or groups of people being discriminated against in enjoying their rights and freedoms on the grounds of race, colour, ancestry and/or ethnicity is prohibited in universal and regional human rights documents such as United Nations (UN) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 Implementing the Principle of Equal Treatment Between Persons Irrespective of Racial or Ethnic Origin.

In the Article 14 of ECHR titled "Prohibition of discrimination," it was stated that the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, national or social origin. In International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial, racial discrimination was defined as "any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life." In the Article 5 of aforementioned of the Convention, it was guaranteed that States Parties guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, in the enjoyment of the right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as hotels.

In the Article 3 of the Law No. 6701 on the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye; it is recognized that everyone is equal in enjoyment of legally recognized rights and freedoms, and the provision "it is prohibited under this Law to discriminate against persons based on the grounds of race, [...] ethnical origin [...]" was included. Again, in the Article 5 of the aforementioned law, it was recognized that legal persons established under private law providing services of tourism discriminating, in respect of their activities, against persons who use or have applied to use or wishing to be informed of such services constitutes a human rights violation.

Within this framework, it is unacceptable in a democratic society for a person to be subjected to discriminatory treatment because of his/her race, colour, ancestry or ethnic origin. Within the scope of the relevant provisions of Law No. 6701, our Institution has the authority to ex officio investigate and impose administrative sanctions on real and legal persons who provide the services in question and violate the prohibition of discrimination.

Our Institution, which is tasked with ex officio investigating violations of the prohibition of discrimination and whose main mission is to guarantee the right of individuals to be treated equally based on human dignity and to prevent discrimination in the enjoyment of legally recognized rights and freedoms, stands against all kinds of discriminatory treatments on the grounds of race and ethnic origin which are prohibited by national and international legal regulations and closely follows the aforementioned allegations reflected in the written and visual media.

Respectfully announced to the public.