Turkey, the Kurds and the Imrali Peace Process: An Historic Opportunity

• Third party needed to facilitate stalled peace process, MEPs should meet Öcalan

  

  Von 10th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON "THE EU, TURKEY AND THE KURDS"

  The conference believes that Turkey’s accession into the European Union will increase the possibility for a peaceful permanent solution and that such a peaceful solution can only be achieved through dialogue between the parties. However the conference notes that the current peace process is hurtling towards an impasse. The conference hopes that this impasse is overcome soon and that the peace process will be revitalised recognising that the peace is a necessary condition for negotiations and for the deepening of democracy for the peoples of Turkey.

• *** Agenda: 10th EUTCC Conference 'EU Turkey Kurds' ***

  

  10th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON "THE EUROPEAN UNION, TURKEY AND THE KURDS" Turkey, the Kurds and the Imrali Peace Process: An Historic Opportunity Brussels, European Parliament, 4th & 5th of December 2013 Room: ASP 1G2

• *** Speakers' & Patrons' Profiles ***

  

  MP Ertuğrul KÜRKÇÜ: Member of Turkish Parliament, Spokesperson of Democratic People’s Congress. He was the chair of Federation of Revolutionary Youth Associations (DEV-GENC) in 1970s. He had been sentenced the death punishment in 1972, the sentence turned out 30 years prison punishment with the Amnesty Law in 1974. Hasan Cemal, a Turkish journalist, writer and grandson of Djemal Pasha, born in 1944 in Istanbul. He was the editor of Cumhuriyet from 1981 to 1992, and of Sabah from 1992 to 1998. In 2013 he resigned from the Milliyet newspaper after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had criticised his article supporting Milliyets publication of minutes of a parliamentary visit to Öcalan, and Milliyet suspended him and refused to publish his returning column.

• President Schulz: Only political route will bring about a peaceful, fitting and lasting solution.

  Von Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, 4th Dec 2013

  Europe has some experience of reconciliation, political dialogue and seeking compromises, which it can share. All the European institutions must continue to give their strongest support to the current process. The European Parliament has been playing its part for ten years now. This annual conference is one of the concrete contributions we hope to make to a negotiated solution. First of all, thank you for giving me this opportunity to share with you my hopes to see the current peace process between Kurds and Turks brought to a successful conclusion ...

• Prof. Phillips: Autonomy, truth telling, amnesty

  

  Von Prof. David L. PHILLIPS (USA)

  Autonomy will change Turkey fundamentally, making the country more representative and democratic. Constitutional power-sharing can drain the swamp of support for the PKK. However, other peace-building measures are needed including disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, amnesty and asylum, as well as justice, truth-telling and reconciliation. DDR contributes to security and stability in post-conflict recovery by removing weapons from the hands of combatants. It takes the combatants out of military structures and helping them to integrate socially and economically into society and to find livelihoods.

• Leyla Zana: Hemû beşdaran bi hestên xwe yên germ silav dikim.

  

  Von MP Leyla Zana

  Wun bi xêr hatin 10.mîn konferansa me ya bi navê “Yekîtiya Ewrûpa, Tirkiye û Kurd. Di destpêka axaftina xwe de, ez dixwazim vê axaftina xwe îthafê sê jinên qehreman û nemir yên bi navê Sakîne Cansiz, Fîdan Dogan û Leyla Şaylemez ku sala bûherî li Parîsê hatin qetilkirin bikim. Di yekemîn sala ku ji nav me koç kirin, ez wan bi rûmet û bi dilovanî bi bîr tînim.

• Aydar: Turkey wants to become part of EU, so the EU also need to contribute to this process.

  Von Zübeyir Aydar

  According to the timetable for these stages, the first stage was to be completed by June, and second phase completed by Spring 2013. So by now both phases should have been completed and by which time we would be on third stage. Unfortunately due to non-compliance of the proposed phases by the Turkish government, this has not been possible. Instead there were already blockages in the first stage. In accordance with the spirit of the proposed resolution, it was hoped that the parliament would propose decisions which would embrace these proposals. However this did not happen. In this sense, the ...

• Chomsky: We are living a period of dangers and prospects

  Von Noam Chomsky

  Just 2 days ago, President Barzani of Iraqi Kurdistan made a historic visit to Turkey actually to meet Prime Minister Erdogan in Diyarbakir, that’s significantly not in Ankara. And, speaking in Diyarbakir, he said (I’ll quote him): “Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has taken a very brave step towards peace. I want my Kurdish and Turkish brothers to support the peace process”. There was right at the same time a BDP counter-rally in Diyarbakir and Barzani’s stand was sharply criticised there as an effort to split the Kurds.

• MP Tanrikulu: AKP approaching Kurdish issue as a mere means for electioneering

  Von MP Sezgin TANRIKULU (CHP)

  The rejectionist approach of the AKP that reveals itself especially in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey regarding the works that we have been performing in the name of peace, and the bills and motions that we have been offering, should not be disregarded. The fact that during the process of the drafting of the new constitution the AKP has conspicuously turned a blind eye on the demands for reconciliation, demands which would contribute to the achievement of peace in the society, is likewise suggestive that the AKP is far from dealing with this issue in any other way than approaching it as a means for electioneering.

• Spyer: Two autonomous Kurdish entitites, two rival pan-Kurdish movements

  Von Jonathan SPYER

  Two autonomous Kurdish entities have arisen, in a contiguous land area, as a result of the collapse, or retreat, under very different circumstances, of two neighboring Arab nationalist dictatorships – in Iraq and in Syria. Ocalan’s PKK and Barzani’s KDP constitute rival pan-Kurdish movements, each with a deep suspicion of the other. The failure of the 2012 Hawler agreement to ensure the joint governance of Rojava by the PYD and the KNC (association of Barzani supporting Syrian Kurdish parties) has led the KRG to regard Rojava as the fiefdom of its rivals.

• Jongerden (Netherlands): The future of today

  Von Joost JONGERDEN

  Essentially, the AKP and PKK have a very different problem analysis. Erdogan, the AKP, or, for that matter, the Turkish state, sees the problem as one of ‘terrorism’ and ‘weapons’, while the PKK does not considers the armed struggle to be the problem, but the symptom of a more fundamental problem: Turkey’s cultural-nationalist politics in which Kurds had to qualify themselves as Turks. In short, for the state the problem is security whereas for the Kurds the problem is political, an issue of rights.

• Yaşar Kemal: De­mok­ra­si bir ge­rek­sin­me­dir. De­mok­ra­si bir den­ge dü­ze­ni­dir.

  Von Yaşar Kemal

  Bir ülke insanları insanca yaşamayı, mutluluğu, güzelliği seçecekse, bu evrensel insan haklarından, düşünce özgürlüğünden geçer. Bir ülkede yaşayan herkesin diline, dinine, tüm insan haklarına sahip olduğu, onuruyla yaşadığı gerçek bir demokraside çözülmeyecek sorun yoktur. Ben büyük maceralardan geçerek gelmiş bu halkların, Kürtlerin, Türklerin tüm Anadolu halklarının bütün olumsuzluklarının üstesinden gelerek sağlıklı bir gelecek kurabileceğine inanıyorum.

• Yayman (Turkey): Özal Açılımı Neden Başarılı Olamadı?

  Von Hüseyin YAYMAN

  Kürt sorunu, Türkiye'nin yüzyıllık problemlerinden biridir. Kökleri, İmparatorluk dönemine kadar uzanan bu sorun, siyasi, iktisadi, etnik ve psikolojik yönleri olan karmaşık bir sorun alanıdır. Hangi açıdan ele alınırsa alınsın, sürdürülmesi ve yönetilmesi zor bir mesele haline gelmiştir. Türkiye’nin evrensel ölçekte bir düzen kurması ve büyük devlet olma iddialarını devam ettirebilmesi için bu meseleyi çözmesine bağlıdır.

• Jürgen Klute, MdEP: Die Zeit der Versprechen muss zu Ende gehen

  

  Von MEP Jürgen Klute

  Nach Jahren, in denen die Identität und die Forderungen der Kurden totgeschwiegen wurden, hat sich das Blatt dieses Jahr gewendet. Die Zeit der Tabus und des Totschweigens geht zu Ende. In den Augen der internationalen Öffentlichkeit, in den Augen der europäischen Instutitutionen, der EU-Kommission, und – ich bin mir sicher – auch in den Augen der türkischen Bevölkerung hat sich die BDP mit ihrem verantwortungsvollen Agieren und ihrer Unabhängigkeit großen Respekt verdient. Ebenso wenig wie die BDP sich nicht hat instrumentalisieren lassen, bin ich auch zuversichtlich, dass sich die Kurden und Kurdinnen in der Türkei nicht werden täuschen lassen.