Newsletter February 2025

Our PR: Mr Öcalan’s statement: A Momentum for Peace and Democracy 

This momentum must be adequately recognised. The European Union and its institutions, in particular the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, should now make every effort to strengthen the process. This includes engagement to ensure that Abdullah Öcalan can freely practice his leadership role in the ongoing political process.

http://eutcc.net/?p=1981

Mr Öcalan’s Call for Peace and a Democratic Society 

Just as every contemporary organisation and party whose existence has not been forcibly ended would voluntarily do, gather your congress and take the decision to integrate with the state and society: all groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself.

https://www.demparti.org.tr/en/call-for-peace-and-democratic-society/20770

Human Rights Watch: Use Call to Halt Violence as Catalyst to End Right Abuses

The landmark call on February 27, 2025, to end a decades-long armed insurgency against the Turkish state should be a catalyst to end its abusive use of terrorism charges to criminalize and silence government critics including politicians, journalists, lawyers, and activists.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/02/28/turkiye-use-call-halt-violence-catalyst-end-rights-abuses

DEM Party’s Statement on wave of arrests against HDK 

AKP government is threatening Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) and its components with baseless accusations and imprisonment. 

https://www.demparti.org.tr/en/akp-government-is-threatening-hdk-and-its-components-with-baseless-accusations-and-imprisonment/20746

Statement by Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Co-Rapporteurs David Eray and Bryony Rudkin on the dismissal of Abdullah Zeydan, Mayor of Van and member of the Turkish delegation to the Congress

We reiterate our call to the Turkish authorities to stop this practice and resume the political dialogue with the Congress rapporteurs to ensure the effective implementation of past recommendations.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/-/dismissal-of-mayor-of-van-statement-by-congress-co-rapporteurs-on-local-democracy-in-t%C3%BCrkiye–

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PR: Mr Öcalan’s statement: a momentum for peace and democracy

Today, a seven-member delegation visited Kurdish Political Leader Abdullah Öcalan on the prison island of İmralı. Abdullah Öcalan’s long-awaited message was read out at a press conference in Istanbul. 

This declaration is historic and should be supported accordingly. The future not only of Turkey but of the entire region is at stake. Democratisation of the country and peace in the Middle East are urgently needed. Mr Öcalan has set the course for this. His call to create the appropriate legal and political foundations for the laying down of arms and the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party is a moment of resolution of the Gordian knot that has tied the Turkish Republic in its first 100 years.

This momentum must be adequately recognised. The European Union and its institutions, in particular the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, should now make every effort to strengthen the process. This includes engagement to ensure that Abdullah Öcalan can freely practice his leadership role in the ongoing political process.

We welcome Mr Öcalan’s historic statement and ensure our full support.

EUTCC Newsletter January 2025

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find below our current newsletter. 

Kind regards 

Prof. Kariane Westrheim 

Chairperson 

Statement by Human Rights Watch

A drone strike by the Türkiye-Syrian National Army (SNA) coalition that hit a Kurdish Red Crescent ambulance on January 18, 2025, in northern Syria is an apparent war crime

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/01/30/northeast-syria-apparent-war-crime-turkiye-backed-forces

Statement by DEM Party’s İmralı delegation on their second meeting with Kurdish Political Leader Abdullah Öcalan

This process will help everyone, all of us, live together and freely. With the hope that this will be made possible, we look forward to the valuable contributions of all social segments.

https://www.demparti.org.tr/en/to-the-press-and-the-public/20677

Turkey records highest-ever femicide rate in 2024

Turkey’s We Will Stop Femicides Platform reported 394 femicides in 2024, the highest recorded. The group criticized government policies, highlighted rising rates, and called for action on gun control, impunity, and transparency in official femicide data.

https://www.duvarenglish.com/turkey-records-highest-ever-femicide-rate-in-2024-news-65485

BİA Media Monitoring 2024 Annual Report

The BİA Media Monitoring Report reveals that at least 25 journalists and five media outlets were attacked in 2024, while 82 media representatives, mostly from the MHP and affiliated political groups, were threatened in an environment of judicial inaction.

Turkey ranks 158th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). 

https://bianet.org/haber/the-government-made-journalists-lives-a-living-hell-in-2024-303924


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EUTCC Newsletter December 2024

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find below our current newsletter.

Kind regards

Prof. Kariane Westrheim

Chairperson

Our Press release “Towards a Democratic Syria: Stop Turkey’s Attacks & Involve Kurdish Administration in Political Processes”

In the context of Turkey’s attacks, unequivocal responses and sanctions are needed from the international community, above all a halt to arms deliveries and the suspension of agreements in the context of refugees. The intensification of instability affects the entire region, Islamism is a global threat.

PR:Towards a Democratic Syria: Stop Turkey’s Attacks & Involve Kurdish Administration in Political Processes

Statement by DEM MPs Pervin Buldan & Sırrı Süreyya Önder, on their meeting with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan

This is an era of peace, democracy, and fraternity for Turkey and the region.

https://www.demparti.org.tr/en/to-the-press-and-the-public/20625

Statement by Amnesty International on the crackdown on peaceful dissent

Amnesty International is deeply concerned at the crackdown on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Turkey following the reports of a drone strike attack resulting in the killing of Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan, two Kurdish journalists from Turkey in north-east Syria on 19 December.

Statement by Human Rights Watch: Northeast Syria – Displacement Worsens Aid Crisis

Tens of thousands of civilians seeking safety in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria are facing dire conditions due to the lack of adequate shelter, water, food, and health care.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/11/northeast-syria-displacement-worsens-aid-crisis


EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Twitter: @EUTCC1
Facebook: Eu Turkey Civic Commission
Instagram: @eutcc1

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Newyear 2025

Happy New Year.

A new year begins. Existing challenges will remain, new ones will emerge. But a new year also means new opportunities.

We must seize this opportunity together for a more peaceful & just world. As EUTCC, we are more committed than ever to peace, democracy & freedom.