EU-Turkey Civic Commission
Telephone Kerim Yildiz , Treasurer +44 (0) 207 405 3835
Kariane Westrheim, Chair +47 555 88 797
Friday 13 October 2006
Press Release: For immediate release
Kerim Yildiz to Open Third Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds
European Parliament, Brussels, 16 - 17 October 2006
KHRP Executive Director, Kerim Yildiz will be joined on 16 and 17 October, by academics, NGO representatives, human rights advocates, lawyers and policy-makers from around the world at the European Parliament for the Third Annual Conference on the EU, Turkey and the Kurds.
Discussing the future of Turkey’s EU Accession Process, Yildiz, will analyse the pace and implementation of the reforms so far enacted in Turkey. He will examine the extent to which the accession process is genuinely addressing the human rights abuses which continue to be faced by Turkey’s 20 million Kurds.
The Conference which is supported by three Nobel Prize Laureates will be addressed by distinguished speakers, expert in human and minority rights issues. Speakers will discuss a wide range of pertinent concerns such as
Turkey’s new Anti-Terror law, obstacles to peace and reconciliation, judicial independence, freedom of expression and association, as well as the protection of the rights of minorities, women and internally displaced persons.
About the EUTCC
In November 2004 the Rafto Foundation, Kurdish Human Rights Project and Medico International hosted the first conference on EU Turkey and the Kurds in the European Parliament. As an outcome of this historic event, these organisations and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales established a standing Civic Commission, the EU-Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC). Due to the vibrancy of the dialogue of the 2004 conference, a second EUTCC conference was held in September 2005.
The EUTCC is in favour of Turkish EU membership because the EU route remains the greatest hope for securing a civilised, democratic and pluralist Turkey in which a negotiated political solution to the Kurdish question is realised, but only if progress towards membership is based on tangible improvements in the protection of human rights and freedoms and the tackling of the plight of the Kurds is firmly integrated into accession negotiations.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Kariane Westrheim, Chair of the Board of Directors, EUTCC, Tel: +47 555 88 797 kariane.westrheim@iuh.uib
Jon Rud, Secretary General, EUTCC, Tel: +34.965846645 jonrud@terra.es
Kerim Yildiz , Treasurer, EUTCC, Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 3835 khrp@khrp.org
Hege Ekeland, Project Assistant, EUTCC, Tel: +47 93 22 17 36 hege.ekeland@gmail.com
EU-Turkey Civic Commission
Patrons
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
Bianca Jagger, Goodwill Ambassador of the Council of Europe
Harold Pinter, Playwright
Mehmed Uzun, Kurdish writer and novelist
Advisory Council
Matay Arsan Assyrian Academic Society, Netherlands
John Austin MP Labour, UK
Dogu Ergil Professor of Sociology, Ankara University,Turkey
Conny Fredriksson Chairman of Socialist International Working Group on Kurdish issues, Belgium
Michael Gunter Professor of Political Science at Tennessee Technological University, Tennessee and author of books on Kurdish question, US
Jean Lambert MEP Green Party, UK
Sarah Ludford MEP Liberal Democrat UK
Richard McKane Writer, the English Centre of International PEN UK
Dr. Konrad Melchers Editor of ‘Zeitschrift for Entwicklungspolitik', Germany
Margaret Owen Consultant on Women and Children's Rights for the Kurdish Human Rights Project and Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales UK
Denzil Potgieter Senior Counsel, Cape Bar, South Africa
Prof. Wolf Dieter Narr Lawyer and Adviser, Germany
Prof. Raimund Rütten German Attac, European Social Forum, Germany
Alyn Smith MEP Scottish Socialist Party UK
Reyhan Yalcindag Vice-President of HRA, Turkey
Andrew Duff MEP Liberal Democrat UK
Nicholas Hildyard Policy Analyst, UK
Mark Thomas Comedian, Broadcaster, journalist UK
Lord Rea House of Lords, UK
Hywel Williams MP Plaid Cymru, Wales
Hugo Charlton Human Rights Lawyer, UK
Desmond Fernandes Political Scientist, UK
Dogan Özgüden INFO-TURK, Belgium
Jill Evans MEP Green Party, Wales
Dr. Phil Tove Skutnabb-Kangas Expert on Minority Education and Linguistic Human Rights, Denmark
Estella Schmid Human Rights Activist, UK
Prof. Robert Phillipson Expert on Linguistics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Stuart Kerr Human Rights Barrister, England
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