The European Parliament hosts the 16th Kurdish Conference

The European Parliament hosts the sixteenth Kurdish conference in the presence and participation of a number of Nobel laureates, in addition to many personalities and representatives of political parties and currents.

The conference is held under the title “The European Union, Turkey, the Middle East and the Kurds”, which is held annually, in the European Parliament for the 16th time between 5-6 February 2020.

According to the program prepared by the head of the European-Turkish Civil Forum (EUTCC) Professor Dr. Karen Westerheim, both the left group and the green parties, the European Free Alliance will participate in the forum, and for the first time a large group of socialists and democrats will participate in the European Parliament as supporters of the conference.

This year, the conference is managed by a number of international thinkers and personalities:

From South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Togo, Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, High Commissioner for Peace in the Council of Europe and President of the Human Rights Foundation Bianca Jagger, famous philosopher Noam Chomsky, holder of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and Former Parliamentary People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Laila Zana.

The conference will start on Wednesday 5 February 2020 at 14:30 and 15:30. Several members of the European Parliament will speak alongside the head of the European-Turkish Civil Forum (EUTCC) Professor Dr. Karen Westerheim.

The representatives who will speak at the beginning of the conference are:

Nikolaj Philomson, from Denmark, is a member of the European Left / Left Green North (GUE / NGL).

Andreas Schider, from Austria, is a member of the Social and Democrats (S&D) group

François Alphonse, from France, is a member of the Green Party / Green Block / Free European Alliance.

Demetrius Papadimoulis, Vice-President of the European Parliament for Greece.

The second session will be held on the same day February 5 between 17:00 and 18:30 under the supervision of Professor Genghis Aktar and will raise the issue of relations between Turkey and the European Union, and the refugee and Kurdish crisis.

The participants in the session are:

Tinke Strick, Green / European Free Alliance (Greens / EFA), The Netherlands

Edu Polman, Socialist and Democrat from Germany: The Engagement Talks, A Immortal Story

Lawyer Jean Vermont: The Kurdish Question and Europe: Criminalizing Peacebuilding

– From the Lawyer of the Century office, Law Nawroz Uysal: The clear point of my command: The Power of Peace.

February 6 session

The session will take place between 9:30 and 11:00, under the supervision of the S&D deputy, Avin Ingar, for “in the process of occupying Turkey in northern and eastern Syria, the Middle East.”

The participants are:

Laila Al-Shaybi, member of the European Left Green Party (GUE) and the Green Left Union (NGL): Turkey’s occupation of northern and eastern Syria

Dr. Jamal Sultan, Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies; (Turkey’s efforts to become a superpower – towards an Ottoman Empire)

Soren Saundergaard, former Danish parliamentarian: (Kurds – Gordion knot or central knot).

Karmang Kundi, Education Officer, Tennessee, USA: (the constitutional annihilation of the Kurds and other non-Turkish peoples in Turkey)

Verda Gettin, journalist from Brussels: (After ISIS: conflict lines with ethnic and sectarian influences)

Between 11:00 and 12:00 p.m., the Spanish Parliament will hold a symposium on “The Turkish Occupation of Rojava – Effects of Sexual Equality”, in the European Parliament, Maria Eugenia Rodriguez, and three names from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria will join this seminar: Qaryo – Berwyn Yousef – Jihan Khadro.

From 12:00 to 13:00, former German MP Juergen Klot will hold a symposium titled “Europe and the Middle East: Interests versus Democracy”. The participants of this symposium are:

– Brando Benevi, Member of the European Parliament for the Group of Socialists and Democrats in Italy: (European directives in the Middle East conflict)

Thomas Schmidinger, political scientist at the University of Vienna: (Europe and the Kurdish issue).

Dersem Dag Devern, member of the Kurd Akkad Center: (The process of transformation from a Kurdish perspective in the context of democracy, environment and gender equality.

Another symposium titled “There are alternatives” will be held by Dutch journalist Vladimir Van Welenburg between 15:00 and 15.15, where the following names will be taken part in the seminar to be held in room numbered “Room ASP 1E2”:

Nazan Oston-Dag, a sociologist from Germany: (Democracy in wartime – how does society organize itself and announce its orientations in the Middle East?)

Aviva Stein, member of the New World Summit in the Netherlands: (Kurdish women rise and struggle against murders against women).

– Ahmed Degla, journalist: (Rethinking democracy, the year 2023 from the Kurdish point of view)

Juan Carlos Guerra Maldonado, historian from Ecuador: (Local solutions to global problems – the experience of international solidarity).

The conference outcomes will be discussed between 16:15 and 17:00, and announced by the members of the conference management.