Peace process, Political prisoners

Join the Friends of Adem Uzun!

A new initiative by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) UK unites members of parliament, lawyers, journalists, political commentators and activists in a common cause, to demonstrate support for detained Kurdish politician Adem Uzun and demand his release from prison.

We have already collected dozens of signatures but we need more! To add your name to the growing list, please email ‘I would like to join the Friends of Adem Uzun’ to estella24@tiscali.co.uk with your name, profession and organisation as appropriate and we will add you.

 

FREE ADEM UZUN

The Kurdish politician Adem Uzun was arrested in France on 6 October 2012. Having been denied bail, Adem remains in detention awaiting a trial which could be months away.

Adem Uzun is a prominent activist working to achieve peace through the resumption of negotiations between Turkey and the Kurds. A leading politician with the Kurdistan National Congress, KNK, Adem is well-known to anyone involved in the Kurdish issue, especially in the European Parliament, and has been one of the main Kurdish negotiators in the so-called “Oslo Process” with high-level Turkish Government’s representatives. Continue reading “Join the Friends of Adem Uzun!” →

Conflict resolution, Kurdish community, Peace process, Political prisoners

Karayılan: Dialogue is important but there also needs to be a policy for resolution

Edited version, 9.01.12
London

KCK Executive Council President Murat Karayılan talked to ANF reporters Deniz Kendal and Rosida Mardin about the recent meeting with the leader of the Kurdish people, Abdullah Öcalan, on Imrali Island.  Stressing the importance of monitoring the initiative carefully, he said, “the initiative launched for dialogue is both an important and an accurate approach.”

Karayılan said that meetings have been taking place with Öcalan since November, and he continued, “of course the visit of Ahmet Turk and Ayla Akat to Imrali showed the significance of these meetings.” This is a new dimension and we are aware of its importance. However, we will find out in the coming days whether these meetings and the renewed dialogue will turn into a process that leads to a resolution of the Kurdish issue or not. The present period may be described as a consultative one, but we need more data to assess the process. The attitude of the AKP government is especially important in this regard. In terms of whether the process of dialogue will be turned into resolution process or not, the government’s attitude will be absolutely decisive.

Continue reading “Karayılan: Dialogue is important but there also needs to be a policy for resolution” →

Conflict resolution, Freedom of expression, Kurdish language rights, Political prisoners

“The AKP’s ‘New Kurdish Strategy’ Is Nothing of the Sort”

An Interview with Selahattin Demirtas

by Jake Hess | published May 2, 2012

Originally published in Middle East Review Online

Selahattin Demirtaş is co-president of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party of Turkey (BDP), the fourth largest political party in the country. The BDP is not formally tied to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been in armed conflict with the Turkish state since 1984, but it shares the PKK’s core political demands and the two groups likely have many supporters in common. As such, the BDP is a pivotal player in the search for peace. Hopes for a political solution to the decades-old confrontation between the Kurds and the government of Turkey were raised in 2009, when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) launched an initiative known as the “Kurdish” or “democratic opening,” only for the effort to collapse that winter. Talk of democratic reforms and a new approach to the Kurdish issue has resurfaced since the AKP won a third term in the 2011 parliamentary elections, but prospects remain grim as PKK-army clashes and political repression of the Kurdish movement continue. A lawyer by trade, Demirtaş represents the Hakkari province in the Turkish parliament and is a past vice president of the Human Rights Association of Turkey. Jake Hess interviewed him in Washington during a BDP parliamentary delegation visit in April and translated the conversation from Turkish. Continue reading ““The AKP’s ‘New Kurdish Strategy’ Is Nothing of the Sort”” →