We support the peace efforts initiated towards ending the war in Syria. This war has been going on for almost three years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people, the displacement of millions more and the destruction of the country. To achieve an end to this conflict, we hope that the Geneva II Conference to be held on 22 January 2014 will result in a peaceful and permanent solution.
The Kurds in Syria have always declared their support for all such international efforts. The Kurdish people are struggling for the right to live freely with their own identity in a democratic Syria. The Kurds in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) have neither succumbed to the persecutions and massacres by the regime or by those groups linked to Al-Qaeda. The Kurds want to live autonomously within a democratic, equal and just Syria alongside all its peoples and religious minorities of the country; Syria represents a multi-cultural, multi-faith and multi-ethnic reality.
We, the undersigned academics, politicians, human rights activists and scientists, believe that the Kurdish people should be represented at Geneva II by a delegation from the Kurdish Supreme Council. The Supreme Council was formed last year and is representative of all Kurdish parties and institutions.
We believe that the Kurdish people should be represented by the Kurdish High Council in an international conference of this significance where the Kurdish people´s future will be directly determined. Only then can Geneva II play its rightful role in securing the desired peace for all.
First Signatories:
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Nobel Prize Laureates (2009), India; Dr. Vandana Shiva, Alternative Nobel Peace Prize, India; Ann-Margarethe Livh, Oppositional Vice Mayor of Stockholm City Council, Sweden; Mikael Gustafsson – Member of the European Parliament Left party, Sweden; Lincoln Davis, Member of the US Congress (2003-2011), US; Shudhakar Reddy, Secretary General, Communist Party (CPI), India ; Lars Ohly – Member Of Parliament The Left Party and Ex-President of left party, Sweden; Hans Linde – Member of Parliament Left party and Foreign spokesperson , Sweden; Torbjörn Björlund – Member of Parliament Left party, Sweden; – Igshaan Higgins – South African Academy For Young Leaders, South Africa; Solly Mapaila – Deputy General Secretary of South African Communist; Judge Essa Moosa – Chairperson of KHRAG, South Africa; Faizel Moosa – ANC Dullah Omar Region, South Africa; Ebrahim Wise – ANCYL RTT Dullah Omar Region, ANCYL RTT Executive Member Economic Development Portfolio, South Africa; Igshaan Higgins – South African Academy For Young Leaders, South Africa; Kariane Westrheim. EUTCC chair & University of Bergen, Norway; Dr. Gisela Penteker, IPPNW, Germany; Kurdo Baksi, Author and candidate for the European Parliament (Green Party);
Lord Hylton – House of Lords, UK; Lord Rea – House of Lords, UK; Jean Lambert – Member of the European Parliament, UK; Jill Evans – Member of the European Parliament, UK; Hywel Williams MP – Houser of Commons, UK; Bruce Kent – Vice-President, International Peace Bureau,UK; Robert Olson – Professor of Middle East History and Islamic History at the University of Kentucky, US; Tony Simpson – Editor, The Spokesman journal,Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, UK; Nick Hildyard – policy adviser, UK; Felix Padel – Professor in Rural Magament, Indian Institute of Health Management research, Jaipur, India & UK; Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, dr.phil. Denmark/Finland; Rezan Saleh – Secretary General, AIDA, non-profit European association for intercultural artistic development.; Margaret Owen OBE, -international human rights lawyer; Melanie Gingell – barrister, UK; Maggie Bowden – General Secretary “Liberation”, UK; Hugo Charlton – barrister, UK; Joost Jongerden – Assistant Professor, Wageningen University, the Netherlands; Khatchatur I. Pilikian – Professor of Music & Art, LSFC Secretery; Mark Durkan MP, House of Commons, UK
Signed by
NAME/PROFESSION/ORGANISATION
