Brussels hosts Turkey-Kurds-Anatolian Peace-Democracy Conference
By Roni Alasor / Lorin Sarkisian
Brussels, 17 June 2013 – Ararat News (ANP) – Kurds, Turks, Armenians, Assyrians-Syrians-Chaldeans, Pontius-Greeks, Laz, Circassians, as well as the religious groups of Muslims, Christians, Alevis and Yezidi-Kurds are participating in a Peace and Democracy Conference in Brussels.
Peace and Democracy Conference will take place in Brussels on 29 and 30 June. There is high interest for the conference. Zubeyir Aydar, former Kurdish Parliamentarian and member of the organiser committee from Executive Council of Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) told to Ararat News (ANP) that already over 50 different ethnical and religious organisations from Turkey and Kurdistan which are based in Europe are supporting the initiative and they will attend the conference.
“There are also more than 300 diasporic intellectuals, academicians, researchers, lawyers and human rights defenders who registered individually for the conference initiated by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Alongside with the different ethnic and religious groups, the conference will also include syndicate representatives, left wing and democratic organisations, which will discuss how to build together a new democratic Turkey, living in peace with its citizens and neighbours” said Mr. Aydar.
“We defend the unity of democratic powers rather than the imperial alliance in the region. We want peace not only with Turkey but also with Arabs, Persians and all other peoples and beliefs. We are a movement for humanity. We do not side by nationalism but stand against it”, concluded the Kurdish highlevel politicians.
The organisers’ committee also received high interest from the European friends of Kurds and Turkey, as well as from people working for and connected to the EU Institutions and international peace and human rights organisations to participate in the conference. But for practical reasons, due to the short timing of the conference and the language barrier, another informational meeting with foreigners will be organised at a later stage with a possibility for establishment of Peace and Democracy Committees in different European countries.This will be discussed in the conference.
The two-day conference in Brussels is a part of the series of four conferences initiated by the jailed leader of the PKK Abdullah Ocalan after the re-launching of the peace talks between Turkey and the Kurds on 21st March. The first conference took place in Ankara at the end of May, followed by a second one in the Kurdish capital city Diyarbekir on 15 and 16 June. The last conference is expected to be held in Hawler, the capital of Federal Kurdistan Region. Each conference will elect a body, which will continue to work for long term democratization and peace in Turkey.
The initial concept behind the conferences in Diyarbekir and Hawler is to strengthen the relations and build unity between Kurds and all ethnic and religious groups in Kurdistan Region in Turkey, while the conferences in Ankara and Brussels aim to involve not only the ethnic and religious communities from all Turkey / Anatolia, but also all democratic and progressive organisations.
http://www.araratnews.com/nuce.php?aid=703
2013-06-17
