NEWS
- Kurdish villagers are dying at the hands of a war the world has ignored for too long
- EU foreign policy chief urges Turkey to refrain from military operation in Syria
- Solidarity hunger strikes in Europe continue
- Indefinite hunger strike to be launched in Strasbourg
- Kurdish parties and organisations reject the US decision
- PKK and PAJK prisoners announced indefinite hunger strike
- “As Turkey’s local elections loom, reckless war-mongering begins”
- HDP’s Buldan: Millions demand freedom for Öcalan
- Anderson calls for release of Öcalan and all political prisoners
- US-Backed Kurdish Forces Seize ISIS Town in Eastern Syria
- US firmly warns Turkey against attack on Syrian Kurdistan
- Kurdish leader tells Turkish court he is a ‘political hostage’
- EU Commission: Demirtas case reflects rights violations
- Dozens Arrested in Raids on Kurdish Party Headquarters in Turkey
- Iranian Kurds bury actor, filmmaker brothers killed in arson car fire
- Kurdish community in Scotland being “terrorised” by police
- Kurds Rush Reinforcements Into East Syria as ISIS Reclaims Town
- Persecution of Kurds seeking sanctuary in Scotland must stop
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- Michael Jansen: An unacceptable offensive
- Trump administration tries to head off Turkish assault on Kurds in Syria
- Confront Turkey’s ethnic cleansing and stop indulging it
- Hunger striking Kurdish MP Leyla Guven now critical
- Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal
- Intolerance of journalists continues to increase in Turkey
- Turkey primed to start offensive against US-backed Kurds in Syria
- US sanctions have caused a crisis for Iranian Kurds
- US erects observation posts to avert war between Turks, Syrian Kurds
- It’s not just Europe – toxic imperial nostalgia has infected the world
- Can the KRG model be replicated in northern Syria?
- Syrian Kurds claim arrest of Turkish-backed death squad
STATEMENTS
- Turkey’s Latest Invasion Plans Must be Stopped – Rojava Must Survive
- Turkey’s attack on Rojava resuscitates ISIS
BOOKS, POETRY, ART
- Unesco presented with a complaint against France and Turkey
- Democratic Idea Library opens in Hesekê
- Poems from a guerrilla ‘Autumn’
EVENTS
- (VIDEO) 15th International Conference on the European Union, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Kurds
————————————————————————————
NEWS
- Kurdish villagers are dying at the hands of a war the world has ignored for too long
17 December 2018| The Independent
European and US allies of Turkey – because of lucrative weapons contracts and because it serves as an attractive location to base Middle East military operations – do not seem to care that the warplanes they sell to Turkey drop bombs on Kurdish civilians, nor that Turkey seems to have a long-term plan of re-establishing its Ottoman Empire.
- EU foreign policy chief urges Turkey to refrain from military operation in Syria
16 December 2018| The Nation via Sputnik
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday commented on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to conduct a military operation in the east of Syria, urging Ankara to refrain from any unilateral actions in the area.
- Solidarity hunger strikes in Europe continue
16 December 2018| ANF News
Hunger strikes in solidarity with DTK Co-chair and HDP MP Leyla Güven demanding an end to the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan continue all over Europe. Kurds and their friends continue with the hunger strikes in solidarity with DTK (Democratic Society Congress) Co-chair and HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) MP for Hakkari, Leyla Güven who is jailed in Amed (Diyarbakır) and has been on hunger strike since November 7 in protest at the aggravated isolation regime imposed on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan. The hunger strike in the Hague, the Netherlands, has reached day 16 on Sunday.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/solidarity-hunger-strikes-in-europe-continue-31446
- Indefinite hunger strike to be launched in Strasbourg
16 December 2018|ANF News
The Kurdish umbrella organization KCDK-E announced that they will begin an indefinite hunger strike with 18 people in Strasbourg on Monday. The Kurdish umbrella organization KCDK-E (Congress of the Kurdish Democratic Society of Europe) announced that they will start an indefinite hunger strike in Strasbourg with 18 people. The hunger strike, which will begin on December 17, is directed against the total isolation of Abdullah Öcalan.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/indefinite-hunger-strike-to-be-launched-in-strasbourg-31455
- Kurdish parties and organisations reject the US decision
15 December 2018| ANF News
Over 82 Kurdish parties, organisations and personalities rejected the US decision to put a bounty on 3 senior PKK figures and proposed plan for action. Over 82 Kurdish parties, organisations as well as several personalities, got together in Brussels to attend the meeting promoted by the KNK-Kurdistan National Congress to discuss the US decision to put a bounty on three senior PKK leaders, Cemil Bayık, Murat Karayılan and Duran Kalkan.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/kurdish-parties-and-organisations-reject-the-us-decision-31443
- PKK and PAJK prisoners announced indefinite hunger strike
15 December 2018| ANF English
A group of 30 PKK and PAJK prisoners will begin an indefinite hunger strike on Sunday 16 December. The prisoners’ statement said the following: “The PKK which hosts all the noble beauties, has been fighting for 40 years in an attempt to establish social and free life. Our party sees the 41st year as the year in which people will walk into the democratic and freedom way. We commemorate our martyrs who paid a great price to find the meaning and sense of life in our struggle’s history.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/pkk-and-pajk-prisoners-announced-indefinite-hunger-strike-31442
- “As Turkey’s local elections loom, reckless war-mongering begins”
15 December 2018|ANF News
HDP Co-Chairs Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli urged the national and international public to show alertness towards Erdoğan’s threats and not to remain silent. The statement by HDP Co-chairs said that; “While in Afrin, one of the regions Erdoğan claims he has “made secure”, local people are still trying to cope with the heavy consequences of the occupation, and the current aggressive discourse is merely a sign of new destruction and suffering. Let’s not forget, nearly 200 thousand people have had to leave their homes, and hundreds of people lost their lives in Afrin.
- HDP’s Buldan: Millions demand freedom for Öcalan
15 December 2018|ANF News
HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan condemned the airstrikes on Makhmur and Shengal.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Pervin Buldan met with people in Ağrı where she evaluated recent developments. Buldan marked the anniversary of the genocidal attacks, saying: “Three years ago the curfews issued by the State hit our people, in Sur, Cizre, Nusaybin, Şırnak. Today the same way and methods are implemented again and war-mongering, detention, pressures are implemented by the State trying to protect their power.”
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/hdp-s-buldan-millions-demand-freedom-for-Oecalan-31416
- Anderson calls for release of Öcalan and all political prisoners
14 December 2018| ANF News
“The Turkish Government must end their oppressive measures and recommence a credible peace process with Kurdish representatives.” Martina Anderson said: “I am deeply concerned with for the health and well-being of the HDP MP, Leyla Güven, who is on hunger strike in a Turkish prison. Leyla has been imprisoned in a high security jail on pre-detail detention since January 2018. She was elected as an MP from prison in June.
- US-Backed Kurdish Forces Seize ISIS Town in Eastern Syria
14 December 2018| Antiwar.com
ISIS forces continue to fight around the outskirts of Hajin
The US-backed Kurdish YPG has once again secured a gain in fighting around ISIS-held towns in eastern Syria, reporting on Friday that they have “full control” of the town of Hajin, the largest of the contested towns. The Kurds have been contesting these towns for months, and this is not the first time they’ve seized Hajin. ISIS fighters are still reported in “small pockets” in and around the city, though the Kurds claim they are optimistic they’ll be finished in a few days.
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/12/14/us-backed-kurdish-forces-seize-isis-town-in-eastern-syria/
- US firmly warns Turkey against attack on Syrian Kurdistan
13 December 2018| Kurdistan 24
The US has responded strongly to a threat issued early on Wednesday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attack Syrian Kurdistan, where US forces, in partnership with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), have been fighting the Islamic State (IS). “Unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as US personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern,” both the Pentagon and State Department stated later that day. As the Pentagon and State Department each affirmed, “We would find any such actions unacceptable.”
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/39da20db-869e-4273-97d4-3d90668b7222
- Kurdish leader tells Turkish court he is a ‘political hostage’
12 December 2018| AFP via Yahoo News
Jailed top Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas said he was a “political hostage” on Wednesday during his first court appearance in Turkey since a European rights court demanded his release. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last month slammed the pre-trial detention of Demirtas, who is considered a potential rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as politically motivated.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/kurdish-leader-tells-turkish-court-political-hostage-182308724.html
- EU Commission: Demirtas case reflects rights violations
12 December 2018| ANF News
EU Commission Deputy Chairperson Federica Mogherini said, “The Demirtas case reflects rights violations in Turkey. At a time of outstanding challenges to Turkey, the approach in practices is a contradiction.” “Turkey complying with the ruling is not connected to the EU accession goal, but compliance with the ECHR which the country is party to. The Demirtas case is an issue for us as the EU Commission. This case reflects the human rights violations in Turkey in a way.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/eu-commission-demirtas-case-reflects-rights-violations-31354
- Dozens Arrested in Raids on Kurdish Party Headquarters in Turkey
11 December 201| Voice of America
Turkish police have detained dozens of people, mostly women, in multiple raids on the local headquarters of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) since Monday, targeting party members and supporters who were on a hunger strike in support of the imprisoned HDP lawmaker Leyla Guven.
- Iranian Kurds bury actor, filmmaker brothers killed in arson car fire
10 December 2018| Kurdistan 24
Hundreds of Iranian Kurds on Sunday participated in a funeral procession of two brothers who were reportedly killed in an arson car fire two days earlier.
Kurds, among them local artists and activists, from different parts of Kurdistan Province, marched with the coffins of the two brothers in the province’s Baneh city, near which the incident occurred. The marchers were holding signs and pictures of famous Kurdish filmmaker Paikar Zabihi and theatrical actor Kaywan Zabihi, and mourning their loss.
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/21e4148b-d68a-4e71-bf2f-bc1e23e646f7
- Kurdish community in Scotland being “terrorised” by police
10 December 2018| Third Force News
Police have been accused of terrorising the Kurdish community in Scotland. This follows a series of dawn raids on family homes and arrests in Edinburgh under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Officers have been accused of persecuting by searching for evidence of support from banned organisations, such as the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) and the YPG militia, which has been instrumental in driving back ISIS terrorists in Syria. Meanwhile in Turkey, opposition groups are denounced as terrorists, journalists are jailed and trade unionists detained in a wider-ranging crack-down.
- Kurds Rush Reinforcements Into East Syria as ISIS Reclaims Town
ISIS counter-attack expels Kurdish forces from Hajin
9 December 2018|Anti War.Com
Kurdish forces are scrambling another 500 fighters into Eastern Syria on Sunday evening to join fighting over ISIS-held territory along the Iraqi border. This is a response to losses inflicted in an ISIS counter-offensive over the weekend. Over the past week, the Kurds had been making inroads in the town of Hajin, backed by heavy US air support and artillery fire. The ISIS counter-offensive, beginning Saturday, quickly turned the tables and chased them out of the town.
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/12/09/kurds-rush-reinforcements-into-east-syria-as-isis-reclaims-town/
- Persecution of Kurds seeking sanctuary in Scotland must stop
9 December 2018| The National
In the last three years there have been repeated early-morning raids by detectives on the homes of ordinary Kurdish families. Warrants are issued under Prevention of Terrorism legislation. Last year police confiscated Kurdish flags, magazines and other materials, including badges of the Syrian-Kurdish YPG, the very people who have fought so bravely in leading the fight against ISIS. None of this material has been returned. Yet none of it was linked to terrorism. https://www.thenational.scot/news/17286777.persecution-of-kurds-seeking-sanctuary-in-scotland-must-stop/?ref=fbshr&fbclid=IwAR3IP1pryTS7Rgvc4_vZrC8AMSh5RzT5qkTvKrLdytbzqLHHxGVguaRzChw
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- Michael Jansen: An unacceptable offensive
17 December 2018| The Gulf Today
The Pentagon warned against “unilateral military action” after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared last week that Ankara would “in a few days” launch its long-promised operation to clear Syrian Kurdish fighters from territory they hold in northern Syria. The US military spokesman called Erdogan’s announcement a “matter of grave concern” and “unacceptable” but did not reveal how the US military, which has more than 2,200 troops in Turkey’s potential target area, would respond. The EU echoed the Pentagon’s line.
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/42b60e98-3e3e-440c-bcc8-2a421ce62515.aspx
- Trump administration tries to head off Turkish assault on Kurds in Syria
14 December 2018|The Washington Post
Top administration officials, including President Trump, scrambled this week to head off a Turkish attack against U.S. Kurdish allies in northern Syria, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an imminent assault. In a telephone call Friday with Erdogan, Trump discussed Turkey’s concerns and the two “agreed to continue coordinating to achieve our respective security objectives in Syria,” the White House stated.
- Confront Turkey’s ethnic cleansing and stop indulging it
13 December 2018| Washington Examiner
Afrin, the district in Syria that Turkey invaded 11 months ago has been systematically cleansing of both Kurds and Kurdish heritage ever since. Turkish warplanes reportedly destroyed the tomb of St. Maron and the fourth-century Julianos Church, a UNESCO site. Turkish forces also pulled down a statue of Kawa the blacksmith, a legendary hero of the Kurdish New Year, when they seized the center of Afrin. The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage is a violation for which those giving the order can be prosecuted.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/confront-turkeys-ethnic-cleansing-and-stop-indulging-it
- Hunger striking Kurdish MP Leyla Guven now critical
14 December 2018| Morning Star
If you think Brexit is dramatic, you should be watching what is happening to the Kurds at the hands of the Turkish regime at the moment. Turkey’s “political genocide” of the Kurds continues apace, with this week being a particularly busy week as Erdogan gets ready for the Turkish local elections at the end of March. He has already said that, if the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) win municipal elections, he will ignore the vote and instal his own cronies, but that has not stopped him continuing to jail HDP activists and Kurdish elected MPs.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hunger-striking-kurdish-mp-leyla-guven-now-critical
- Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal
13 December 2018| The Committee to Protect Journalists
Even as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been the fiercest critic of Saudi Arabia for the murder of Khashoggi, his government continued to jail more journalists than any other on the planet. CPJ found at least 68 journalists jailed for their work in Turkey, which is slightly lower than previous years. In the course of the year, dozens more have been jailed or released, as prosecutors continue to seek arrest warrants and apply new charges, and courts ordered some journalists released pending trial and acquitted others.
- Intolerance of journalists continues to increase in Turkey
12 December 2018|Morning Star
SARYA TUNC introduces the goodbye letter of persecuted journalist Ayse Duzkan as she prepares to start her prison sentence. ROUND 180 journalists are currently in jail, a third of the world’s total, many on trumped-up terrorism charges. Five more journalists were handed jail terms totalling nine years and nine months last week as an appeal court confirmed the sentences in the Ozgur Gundem (Free Agenda) case.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/intolerance-journalists-continues-increase-turkey
- Turkey primed to start offensive against US-backed Kurds in Syria
12 December 2018
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has said that Turkey will launch a military operation against the Kurds in northern Syria within days, in a decision that could signal a shift in Turkish-US relations and have far-reaching consequences for Syria’s future.
Long frustrated by US support for Kurdish militias that Turkey views as terrorists, Erdoğan has threatened to push deeper into north-eastern Syria since sending Turkish forces into the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in February.
- US sanctions have caused a crisis for Iranian Kurds
12 December 2018| Red Pepper
An economic recession and a brutal government crackdown have put the people of Rojhilat in a precarious situation. Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat in Kurdish), by attracts comparatively little curiosity or coverage, even from within the Kurdish media. Like the other Kurdish regions, Rojhilat is incredibly diverse, a crucible of richly layered ethnic, religious and linguistic difference. Iranian Kurds, who number around 12 million, live amongst Assyrians, Azeris, Sunni Arabs and Shia Persians. Their demand, as in Turkey, is not for statehood, but for some form of self-determination, which would probably be expressed through an autonomous Kurdish confederation.
https://www.redpepper.org.uk/us-sanctions-have-caused-a-crisis-for-iranian-kurds/
- US erects observation posts to avert war between Turks, Syrian Kurds
10 December 2018| Al Monitor
The United States has established at least three observation posts along the Turkish-Syrian border in an apparent dismissal of Turkish concerns about their role, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) asserted today. The move highlights the complexities bedeviling the United States’ efforts to maintain a military presence in Syria with the help of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), who are the core component of the SDF, while scrambling to appease fellow NATO ally Turkey.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/12/us-three-observation-posts-turkey-syria-border.html#ixzz5ZbIhQJZb
- It’s not just Europe – toxic imperial nostalgia has infected the world
10 December 2018| The Guardian
The dramatic demise of democracy in Turkey holds important lessons for progressives everywhere. It shows us that history does not necessarily go forward; it can slide backwards. Turkey’s trajectory reveals the stark difference between democracy and majoritarianism; and how, once majoritarianism settles in, it is a short step from there to authoritarianism. Much has been written about Turkey’s populist isolationism, but it is a less known fact that this regression was underpinned by a rhetoric of imperial nostalgia.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/10/nostalgia-for-empires-lost-seductive-dangerous
- Can the KRG model be replicated in northern Syria?
7 December 2018| Rudaw
(VIDEO) Earlier this week, US special representative for Syria Jim Jeffrey floated the idea of a no-fly zone for parts of Syria. He pointed to the success of the no-fly zone over northern Iraq established in the late 1990s that protected Kurdish areas from Saddam Hussein and ultimately contributed to the creation of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/analysis/07122018
- Syrian Kurds claim arrest of Turkish-backed death squad
4 December 2018| Kurdistan 24
The YPG said they carried out the arrests after tracking the leader of the sleeper cell, a Syrian civilian named Nazmi, since October 2017. The Kurdish forces claimed Nazmi allegedly received instructions from a Turkish intelligence MIT agent, Abu Imad. “This network consists of dormant cells that have been specially trained by MIT in matters such as assassinations and the use of explosives,” a YPG statement read. “In the social media channels, they called themselves ‘The Qiyam Movement.’”
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/a925bba0-3a74-4b31-99ee-0dcc856f9b80
STATEMENTS
- Turkey’s Latest Invasion Plans Must be Stopped – Rojava Must Survive
17 December 2018| Peace in Kurdistan
President Erdogan of Turkey has once again set his sights on an invasion of Rojava to eradicate the Kurdish administration there which Turkish leaders describe as a “nest of terrorists”. In a speech on 12 December, Erdogan threatened to launch a major military operation “east of the Euphrates” within “a few days” to cleanse the territory of Kurdish forces. There are now real fears that the invasion is imminent.
- Turkey’s attack on Rojava resuscitates ISIS
13 December 2018| Kurdistan National Congress
On December 12, 2018, the Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during his speech at a meeting with the defense industry, declared the following: “Whilst we issued our warnings concerning the east of the Euphrates, we were also engaged in preparations. We will start the operation to clear the east of the Euphrates from separatist terrorists in a few days.” What he refers to as the east of the Euphrates is a Kurdish region; it is Rojava, the north of Syria, a territory within the borders of another country.
http://www.kongrakurdistan.net/en/turkeys-attack-on-rojava-resuscitates-isis/
BOOKS, POETRY, ART
- Unesco presented with a complaint against France and Turkey
14 December 2018| Voltaire Network
The Syrian Arab Republic has filed a complaint with UNESCO (the UN body dealing with Education, Science and Culture) against France and Turkey, charging them with looting cultural assets belonging to the Syrian people. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the French and Turkish armies supervised searches on the territories that they occupied (Manbij, Afrin, Idlib, Hassaké and Raqqa). They looted archeological treasures that they then sent abroad. Furthermore, at the beginning of the war in Syria, a private firm based in Paris coordinated orders for goods (procured through lootings by the jihadists) for Western buyers. Part of the profits from these art sales was used to fund the terrorist organizations.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article204372.html
- Democratic Idea Library opens in Hesekê
7 December 2018| ANF English
“We will try to spread the idea and philosophy of the leader with this library.” A library of books by Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan was opened under the leadership of the war veteran fighters in the canton of Hesekê. The library has been named Democratic Idea Library and collect hundreds of historical, cultural and scientific books as well as books and defenses written by Öcalan.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/culture/democratic-idea-library-opens-in-heseke-31242
- Poems from a guerrilla ‘Autumn’
6 November 2018| ANF News
A poetry book from Kurdistan to appreciate the value of freedom. Autumn is the title of a little, precious book of poems, thoughts, fragments of lives. A book of partisan notes from Kurdistan, as the curators say. It is a collection of poems and texts by Atakan Mahir, Salvatore Ceccarini, Piergiorgio Daltoni, Ali Haydar Kaytan and Abdullah Öcalan. The photographs, images of daily life of PKK guerrilla are by Turkish guerrilla Gülnaz Ege (code name Nuran Er).
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/poems-from-a-guerrilla-autumn-30645
EVENTS
- (VIDEO) 15th International Conference on the European Union, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Kurds
The Kurdish Factor in World Politics: Crisis, Challenges and Solutions
Brussels, European Parliament
5 – 6 December 2018
Turkey as a State Deprived of the Rule of Law
First Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFTACm5wjrk&t=4s
Living Solidarity
Second Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTS72geMpxs
The Middle East: Regional and International Conflicts and Connotations
Third Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SufiiYY2z28
The Middle East: Perspectives and Solutions
Fourth Session (Final)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFwGfJBK_c
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Gingell – Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: John Austin, Christine Blower, NUT International Secretary, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans MEP, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Rahila Gupta, Nick Hildyard, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert MEP, Elfyn Llwyd, Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, International Coordinator, Green Party of England and Wales; Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Gareth Peirce, Maxine Peake, Lord Rea, Joe Ryan, Stephen Smellie, Steve Sweeney, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward MEP, Hywel Williams MP.