International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Koeln
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com
Cologne, 15 December 2003
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE BRIEFINGS:
The Kurdish Question - A Touchstone for
European Democracy
On the occasion of Human Rights Day on 10 December 2003 an international
Kurdish conference took place in the Italian mission of the European
Parliament. The conference was organised by the Kurdistan Information
Centre in cooperation with the Italian section of the International
Initiative and the Italian deputies Luigi Vinci, Silvan Pisa and
Elettra Deina. The event offered
several lectures on the issue of. The Turkish accession process
to the European Union and the situation of the Kurds. There was
unanimous agreement that the implementation of the Turkish
reforms was still wearing on. Human rights violations were still
widespread. As to a date for the beginning of accession talks there
was agreement that Turkey still had a long way to go before really
becoming compatible with Europe in particular with a view to the
situation of the Kurds which hadn't changed much. Only after complying
to the Copenhagen criteria could there be a
beginning of the accession talks proper.
There was no agreement, however, whether the Kurdish question could
be solved by simply admitting Turkey into the Union. The was answered
in the negative by the Kurdish participants and some of the European
deputies. The accession process, they held, could only have a supporting
function
while for a real solution it was also necessary to enter into a
dialogue with the Kurds and their representatives. Europe would
have to play a special role in this. Hitherto, Europe had failed
to
refer to the Kurdish openly and had not responded to the talks that
the Kurds had offered. If such denial of the Kurdish question was
continued the issue might even be aggravated. Without a
solution of the Kurdish question democratisation of Turkey could
not be successful. During the Italian presidency there had been
no progress worth mentioning in this direction. Therefore, the
attending European deputies invited Ireland which is to take over
the European presidency from Italy to play a more active part. The
conference also discussed the critical situation of the
Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan concluding that his solitary confinement
had to be condemned for being inhumane and degrading and not befitting
a European candidate country. Consequently, Turkey was invited to
comply with the recommendation of the anti-torture-committee of
the European
Council and to abolish these conditions. The Ocalan case, it was
agreed, could not be separated from the Kurdish question, and a
solution could only be reached by taking into account their
mutual relations.
A final communiqui of this conference is expected to be published
in the next few days.
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