9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “THE EUROPEAN UNION, TURKEY AND THE KURDS”

 EUTCC – EUROPEAN TURKEY CIVIC COMISSION

GUE/NGL – United Left (European Parliament)

THE KURDISH QUESTION IN TURKEY: TIME TO RENEW THE DIALOGUE  AND RESUME DIRECT NEGOTIATIONS

Brussels, European Parliament, 5th & 6th of December 2012 Room ASP 1 G2 / Interpretation available in Turkish, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish – Wednesday, 5th December 2012, 15.00-16.30

Opening Session, Room ASP 1 G2

 

Opening Remarks and Greetings

•          Ms. Kariane Westrheim, PhD,

Chair of EUTCC, Associate Professor, University of Bergen, Norway

•          MEP Ms. Gabi Zimmer

            President of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left Group (GUE/NGL)           in the European Parliament, Germany

 

Opening Speech:

•          MP Ms. Leyla Zana

Member of the Turkish Parliament, European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Rafto Prize Laureate, Turkey

•          MEP Ms. Hélène Flautre (to be confirmed)

Co-president of the Joint Parliamentary Committee EU-Turkey Greens-EFA Group, France                        

Video messages of Conference’s Patrons –   Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, South Africa

 

 Wednesday, 5th December 2012, 16.30-18.30 – Panel I, Room ASP 1 G2

The Turkish-Kurdish Conflict – where is it going?

Moderators: MEP Ms. Jean Lambert, Greens-EFA Group, UK

MEP Mr. Jürgen Klute, Coordinator of the EP-Kurds Friendship Group,

GUE/NGL Group, Germany

 

Speakers

The EU and Turkish Accession: The Rule of Law and the Limits of Judicial Reform

•          Mr. Walter Schwimmer, Former Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Austria

•          MEP Ms. Ana Miranda, Greens-EFA Group, Galicia

Press Freedom, Media Censorship and the Kurdish question 

•          Mr. Ahmet Şık, Journalist, Turkey

The New Constitution – what Democratic Legitimacy? What’s missing?

•          Prof. Sevtap Yokuş, Kocaeli University, Turkey

The impact of the Turkish/US/EU legislation on the Kurdish conflict

•          Mr. Selahattin Esmer, Lawyer, Turkey

 

Democracy Deferred – the Continuing Challenges: Political Trials, Identity and Human Rights

•          Mr. Raci Bilici, Chair of the Human Rights Association Diyarbakır Office, Turkey

The Roboski Massacre – Unanswered Questions

•          Mr. Ferhat Encü, Victim, Turkey

The Importance of Women & Gender Issues in Turkey    

•          Ms. Özgür Sevgi Göral, Academic, Turkey

Questions and discussion with moderators & discussants

Thursday, 6 December 2012, 09.30-13.00

Panel II, Room ASP 1 G2

Middle East at the cross-roads: Whose regional order?

 

Moderators:  Mr. Hans Branscheidt, EUTCC, Germany

MEP Mr. Søndergaard Søren Bo, GUE/NGL, Denmark

Speakers

The achievement of Kurdish democratic autonomy in Syria and its regional            ramifications

•          Mr. Saleh Muslim, Co-President of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Deputy General Coordinator of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria (NCB)

Turkey’s role in the Arab Spring and it regional and international policies: present scenarios                                

•          Mr. Cengiz Candar, Journalist, Turkey

Rethinking politics and democracy in the Middle-East

•          Mr. Joost Jongerden, PhD, Wageningen UR – Netherlands

Who will determine what “System” for the Middle East?

•          Mr. Serdar Akinan, Journalist, Turkey

The Upheavals in the Region and their Impact on the Kurds

•          Professor Ofra Bengio, Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern, Israel

What role could the Kurdish “democratic autonomy” project play?

•          Ms. Aysel Tuğluk, Co-Chair of Democratic Society Congress (DTK), Turkey

   Questions and discussion with moderators & discussants

Thursday, 6 December 2012 15.00-18.00

Panel III, Room ASP 1G2

Negotiating peace: Requirements for a political resolution and the Road Maps to Peace in Turkey

Moderators: MEP Ms. Marie-Christine Vergiat, GUE/NGL, France

Mr. Essa Moosa, EUTCC, South-Africa

Speakers:

•          MP Mr. Selehattin Demirtas, Co-Chair of BDP, Member of Turkish Parliament, Turkey 

•          MP Mr. Galip Ensarioğlu, AKP MP for Diyarbakir, Turkey

•          MP CHP, Turkey (to be confirmed)

•          KNK Representative

•          Mr. Osman Kavala, Civil Society Activist, Turkey

•          Ms. Sabine Freizer, International Crisis Group

•          Ms. Nuray Mert, Journalist, Turkey

 

Questions and discussion with moderators & discussants

Thursday, 6 December 2012, 18.00-18.30

Panel IV, Room ASP 1G2

Conclusions and Recommendations

Moderator :  Professor Michael Gunter, EUTCC, United States

Final Remarks by the Board of the EUTCC