Resolutions
of
the Fourth International Conference
on the EU, Turkey and the Kurds :
The
Fourth International Conference on
the EU, Turkey and the Kurds -
Monday 3rd -Tuesday 4th December
2007, European Parliament, Brussels
Organised by the EU-Turkey Civic
Commission (EUTCC)
Introduction to final resolutions -
(draft) final resolutions
Pursuant
to the presentation of Conference
papers and interventions made by
delegates, this Conference adopted
the following declarations and calls
for action to be undertaken by
relevant parties to the conflict in
the Kurdish Regions of Turkey.
Turkey
and the EU are at this moment at a
critical juncture. The accession
process is widely regarded as having
stalled, or at the very least,
significantly slowed down. Reform
implemented in the first stages of
accession is now a distant memory,
and there appears to be regression
in progress. Geopolitical pressures
on Turkey over incursions into Iraq
are growing, while Turkey’s domestic
politics are becoming more polarised.
How Turkey and the EU respond to the
turbulence of the past year will be
of crucial importance for the future
of the accession process, and the
stability of the entire region.
The
Conference resolves to periodically
make recommendations of measures for
the Turkish accession process, the
protection of human rights and the
situation of the Kurds
The
Conference issues the following
declarations:
1)
Recalling the resolutions from the
International Conferences on Turkey,
EU & the Kurds of the preceding
three years, the Conference
continues to give its qualified
support to Turkey’s EU accession
process, contingent on demonstrable
commitment from both parties to the
human rights and fundamental
freedoms;
2) The
Conference calls upon the European
Union to act as a unified body
publicly expressing support for the
EU accession process it began,
including support of all EU
requirements concerning democratic
and legal reform within Turkey;
3) The
Conference notes that the 2007
European Commission progress report
on Turkish accession found that “no
major issue has been addressed and
significant problems persist”, and
joins with the Commission in urging
Turkey to confront these problems;
4) The
Conference notes with alarm the
failure of certain institutions
within the Turkish State apparatus
to adhere to its obligations under
the European Convention on Human
Rights and humanitarian law in
accordance with the spirit and terms
of its own recent reform packages
and commitments given under the
accession process; in particular, it
is dismayed that institutions of the
State have continued its military
activities;
5) The
Conference regrets that the
unilateral ceasefire declared by the
PKK in October 2006, for all
practical purposes has come to an
end and calls now upon both Turkey
and the PKK to forthwith stop all
hostile military operations in the
region to provide political space to
address the Kurdish questions
through dialogue.
6) The
Conference notes that it has become
clear to everyone, including Turkey
and the Turkish army, and the whole
of the international community, that
there is no military solution to the
ongoing conflict; we call upon the
Turkish government to cease all
hostile military operations both
within Turkey and Kurdistan, Iraq;
7) In
particular, the Conference urges
Turkey and the Member States of the
EU to take practical and visible
steps to demonstrate their full
support for the establishment of a
democratic platform for dialogue
between Turks, Kurds, and other
constituent peoples and minorities
who are resident in Turkey;
Human
Rights and Accession
8) The
Conference supports the undertakings
by the EU that reform in the area of
Turkey’s fundamental rights,
democracy and the rule of law must
be strengthened in the course of
accession negotiations and welcomes
the commitment by the EU Commission
to continue to monitor the reform
process. These reforms should
include a complete overhaul of the
justice system including how judges
are recruited and trained, promoting
full independence of law enforcement
officers and public prosecutors in
order prevent the law being used to
achieve political and ideological
objectives.
9) The
Conference reiterates the view
expressed in the three preceding
Conferences, that Turkey has not yet
fulfilled the political elements of
the Copenhagen Criteria, and
reiterates that its support for the
accession process is dependent upon
the institutions of the EU robustly
enforcing accession standards. It
further underlines that there can be
no further compromises on membership
criteria akin to the EU decision to
allow Turkey access to the
negotiating table for ‘sufficiently’
fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria;
10)
Recalling last year's conference
resolution number 10, the Conference
calls upon Turkey to ratify the
European Framework Convention on the
Protection of Minorities as well as
other UN Instruments concerning
minorities and to respect the
existing cultural and minority
rights of all groups; and calls on
the EU to apply pressure on the
Government of Turkey as a potential
member of the EU to ratify said
Framework;
11)
Recalling Articles 10, and 14, and
Article 2 of the first Protocol of
the European Convention on Human
Rights and Article 8 of the European
Charter for Regional or Minority
languages, and the Council of
Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly’s
resolution 1519 of October 2006 on
the cultural situation of the Kurds,
the Conference reiterates its call
to the State of Turkey and the
European Union to develop and
promote a strategic plan for mother
tongue education;
12) With
specific reference to the 2007
European Commission progress report,
the European Parliament report on
the increasing suicide of women in
the Kurdish regions, as well as
recalling the 2005 CEDAW response to
Turkish Report to the Committee,)
the Conference calls on the EU to
ensure that Turkey address the
status of all women and girls in the
context of international standards,
particularly considering the high
rates of illiteracy, domestic
violence, honor killing, suicide and
forced and early marriages in Turkey,
for which the lack of requisite
services and judicial training fail
to guarantee legal protections (and
in particular notes need to address
the regional disparity in the
position of women through education,
literacy, access to meaningful
employment, political representation
and access to justice); furthermore
it requests the European Union to
use all it powers to ensure that the
Turkish Government develops, in
consultation and co-operation with
Kurdish women a National Action Plan
to implement UNSCR 1325.
13) This
Conference expresses regret the
Turkish government’s initiation of
work on the ill-planned Ilisu Dam in
August 2006, and the start of the
expropriation of land by the Turkish
state which threatens mass
displacement and loss of livelihood
of the area’s inhabitants, the
majority of whom are Kurds;
endangers the historically important
city of Hasankeyf, in an apparent
attempt to further disassociate
Kurds from their rich heritage and
culture; and will, according to
several environmental assessment
reports, jeopardize access to water
for Turkey’s neighbours and cause
irreversible environmental harm;
14) In
reference to the above, the
Conference calls upon the Turkish
government to reassess its position
vis-à-vis this project, as well as
the bodies of the EU monitoring the
impact of internal displacement and
what the potential effects of this
project are on the already
overpopulated urban centres of the
Kurdish regions, as well as calling
on member governments to put
pressure on foreign capital
companies to withdraw their
investments in the project;
15) The
Conference expresses its deep
concern over Turkey’s employment of
articles of the criminal code to
prosecute writers, journalists,
intellectuals, lawyers and many
other defenders of free speech,
including articles 215, 216 (incitement
to hatred), 217, 220 (making
propaganda for a criminal
organization) 288 (attempt to
influence a fair trial) and 301 (insulting
‘Turkishness’) of the Turkish Penal
Code; the Conference calls on the EU
to ensure that Turkey remove
restrictions on freedom of
expression from their legal
framework entirely.
16) We
call upon Turkey to fulfill its
positive obligations under article
10 of the ECHR to promote a positive
climate in which freedom of
expression to flourish, and to
protect writers, journalists,
intellectuals, lawyers and many
other defenders of free speech from
unlawful interference by state and
non-state actors.
The
Centrality of the Kurdish Question
17) The
Conference asserts that the
resolution of the Kurdish conflict
is essential to the establishment of
a stable, democratic and peaceful
Turkey capable of entering the
European Union. True democratic
reform can only occur if Turkey
undertakes new political reform to
its state institutions and banishes
adherence to ethnic nationalism
which is the root cause of the
conflict and Turkey’s endemic
instability;
18) This
Conference therefore asserts that
the Kurdish people and their
representatives should be given a
genuine participatory role in the
accession process and in any debate
over Turkey’s democratic
constitutional future;
19)
However, the Conference further
asserts that more must and can be
done on both sides and calls for the
following confidence building
measures to be adopted;
Confidence Building Measures
20) This
conference notes the resolution of
the conflict and the constitutional
recognition of Kurds in Turkey is
central to regional stability.
21) In
this respect, the Conference calls
upon the Turkish Government to begin
a public debate about the
constitutional recognition of the
existence of the Kurdish people
within Turkey;
22) The
Conference calls upon all political
parties in Turkey to help foster the
conditions within Turkey for a
democratic platform for dialogue;
23) The
Conference calls upon the EU
actively to support efforts for
dialogue on minorities and
specifically on Kurds in Turkey;
24) The
Conference urges Turkey to recognize
that for democracy to function, it
is imperative that local government
structures enjoy the full support of
national government.
25) At
this critical juncture at this time
all actors involved (the EU, Turkey
and the Kurds) must take heed of
lessons from their past, and act in
accordance with international law
and humanitarian norms.
26) In
particular, the Conference calls
upon the Turkish Government to
ensure that all legally constituted
Kurdish democratic parties are
allowed to engage in peaceful
political activity without
interference or constant threat of
closure, with particular reference
to the Democratic Society Party
(DTP) and its current democratically
elected members of parliament; in
accordance with Articles 10 and 11
of the European Convention of Human
Rights; further to immediately cease
the harassment and
politically-motivated investigations
of Kurdish politicians.
27) The
Conference notes that the
recommendations of the ECtHR in
several cases, but in particular
regarding the case of Abdullah
Ocalan vs Turkey, regarding
conditions of detention in Turkey.
The Conference further calls on the
Turkish government to implement CPT
(Committee on Prevention of Torture)
recommendations on conditions of
detention and specifically the
health of Mr. Ocalan, and close —with
immediate effect— Imrali island.
28) The
Conference also urges each member
state of the European Union to
assist —including by earmarking
funds— in the creation of a
democratic platform for dialogue
between Turkey and the Kurds and
fully comply with their own freedom
of expression obligations in respect
of those Kurdish organisations and
individuals who are concerned to
promote the same;
29) The
Conference reiterates that the
Governments of the EU should not
criminalise peaceful dissent of
Turkey echoed by Kurdish
organisations situated in Europe and
to review its proscription of
certain Kurdish organisations,
especially in the light of public
commitments to the search for a
peaceful solution of the Kurdish
question within the present
territorial integrity of a
democratically reformed Turkey;
30)
Finally, the Conference renews its
mandate for its Directors, Advisors
and Committees, to engage and
campaign on both a political and
civic level across Europe in support
of Turkey’s accession bid to join
the European Union on the basis of
this resolution.
