Peace & Democracy Conference in Europe to be held on 29-30 June

ANF – BRUSSELS 10.06.2013 – The Peace and Democracy Conference in Europe will take place in the Belgium capital Brussels on 29-30 June and witness participation from Europe and Scandinavian countries as well as by the representatives of all ethnic groups in European diaspora, belief groups, political groups, left-wing, democrat and opponent groups and all other circles supporting the democratic solution process.

The drafting committee of the Conference held its second meeting in Brussels on Saturday, following the first meeting on 19 May. The committee has finalized preparations on the context of the conference, including the topics to be discussed and the number of participants to attend the conference which has been increased to 300 due to great interest.

The two-day conference will be held in four separate sessions, among which the first one on the first day, titled ‘Opening and Presentations’ will handle the questions what kind of a Turkey is wanted by the Kurds and Turks living in Europe, problems of ethnic and belief identities in Europe and their proposals on these problems, reasons and problems of the European diaspora and the return project, Turkey-based problems of immigrant workers, women and youth, exploitation of labor and proposals for a solution, negative roles the EU and EU countries play with their policies on Turkey.

The second day will witness two sessions, of which the first one will be titled “the role people of Turkey and Kurdistan living in Europe can take in the process of democracy and peace”. The session will witness presentations and proposals on the active participation of all Turkish and Kurdish peoples and structures in the democracy and peace process and proposals on the diplomatic and lobbying work to be practiced by the European Public Opinion and Politics with an aim to create sensitivity towards the democracy and peace process.

The last session of the conference will be titled “the mechanisms to be used by the people of Turkey and Kurdistan living in Europe for their participation in the process” and include presentations and debates on the “ways of organization for the construction of a democratic future and a joint struggle”.

Following the planning of decisions to be reached after the presentations and debates, the conference will end after the approval of the final declaration.

During the second meeting, the drafting committee also saluted the Gezi park resistance which is going on within the second week today and called for the enhancement of the joint struggle in Europe to ensure mass and effective participation in the resistance by the constituents of the conference.