Newsletter

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find below our current newsletter. 

Kind regards 

Prof. Kariane Westrheim 

EUTCC Chairperson 

Press Briefing on the situation of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan 

The U.K.-based Trade Union Campaign for Abdullah Ocalan was joined by members of the Kurdish community and over 40 trade unions, local governments, NGOs and others for a press conference in front of the European Parliament demanding international action on the case of jailed Kurdish political leader Abdullah Ocalan whom lawyers and family members had not heard from for 28 months

Arrest of journalist Merdan Yanardağ on terror charges 

The editor-in-chief of TELE1 TV, Merdan Yanardağ, who was arrested on on charges of “propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “praising criminals” had criticized the government for not allowing the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to meet with his family and lawyers

Website bans 

Turkey issued access bans to 712,558 websites in 2022, a recent report by the Istanbul-based Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) revealed.

EUTCC Commentaries 

The Kurdistan Workers Party is often considered a latecomer that miraculously survived the 1980 military coup. Yet the establishment of the party in 1978 was preceded by a long process of group formation that started shortly after the 1971 military coup in Turkey. This article presents a chronology of the PKK during the 1970s. 

EU Turkey Civic Commission
www.eutcc.net
Twitter: @EUTCC1
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Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find below our current newsletter. 

Kind regards 

Prof. Kariane Westrheim 

EUTCC Chairperson 

European Parliament’s report on Turkey

European Parliament’s Turkey Rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor presented the first draft of this year’s on Turkey. 

The Council of Europe’s annual penal statistics on prison population for 2022

Turkey is the country with the highest total number of inmates. 

Security service vehicles kill Kurdish children

Statement by HDP Foreign Affairs Spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy: It should be underlined that in incidents of death or injury resulting from actions of the security forces, there are often no investigations launched, or perpetrators may receive “penalties” that seem more like rewards. 

Turkey’s targeted assassination of civilians in North and East Syria 

Statement by HDP Foreign Affairs Spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy: We call on everyone to make sure that these attacks are not forgotten and allowed to fade, un-noticed, into history, and ask the national leaders and international organisations to ensure that Turkey stops such attacks that violate both the international and humanitarian law.

EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Twitter: @EUTCC1
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Bereich mit Anhängen

Vorschau für YouTube-Video “(05/06/2023) Presentation of the European Parliament Annual Report on Türkiye.” ansehen

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find below our current newsletter. 

Kind regards 

Prof. Kariane Westrheim 

Chairperson 

Our Statement on the run-off election in Turkey

A clear stance is needed from Europe and its institutions for the opposition, which has fought for change despite the strongest repression. Turkey’s policy under Erdoğan must not remain without consequences. If judgments of the European Court of Human Rights continue to be disregarded, the Council of Europe must take the necessary measures for violation of the convention.  

http://eutcc.net/?p=1397

Press conference by Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Mithat Sancar and Green Left Party co-spokespersons Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar and İbrahim Akın on the presidential run-off elections

Society and politics are not hopelessly at the mercy of the downward spiral, but have the chance to consciously and actively intervene in the process of change. 

EU Turkey Civic Commission
www.eutcc.net
Twitter: @EUTCC1
Facebook: Eu Turkey Civic Commission

Dear Sir or Madam,
Please find below our monthly newsletter.
Kind regards 

Prof. Kariane Westrheim 

Chairperson 

Our statement on the wave of arrests against journalists, lawyers, artists and politicians in Turkey in the run-up to the elections 
http://eutcc.net/?p=1381

Statement by HDP Foreign Affairs Co-Spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy on the wave of arrests against journalists, lawyers, artists and politicians 
https://hdpeurope.eu/2023/04/police-operations-against-the-hdp-and-civil-society-organizations/

Justice Ministry says visits to imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan were disrupted due to ‘unavoidable reasons’
https://www.duvarenglish.com/justice-ministry-says-visits-to-jailed-pkk-leader-abdullah-ocalan-were-disrupted-due-to-unavoidable-reasons-news-62243

bianet Male Violence Monitoring Report April 2023 Men killed at least 24 women, inflicted violence on at least 56 women and abused at least four children in a month in Turkey
https://m.bianet.org/english/male-violence/278174-men-killed-24-women-in-april

EU Turkey Civic Commission
www.eutcc.net
Twitter: @EUTCC1
Facebook: Eu Turkey Civic Commission

Dear Sir or Madam,
Please find below our monthly newsletter.
Kind regards 

Prof. Kariane Westrheim 

Chairperson 

Final resolution 17th EUTCC Conference The Annual International Conference on the EU, Turkey, the Middle East and the Kurds was hosted by the EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) in cooperation with the The Left Group, the Greens-European Free Alliance (GREENS/EFA), the Groups of the Free Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the Kurdish Institute Brussels. The conference was successfully held on 8th and 9th of March 2023 in the European Parliament in Brussels.  
http://eutcc.net/?p=1296

Report by Human Rights Foundation on rights violations in quake zone17 people were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, one person died, and at least 10 people were injured in nine separate incidents in the region.
https://www.duvarenglish.com/human-rights-foundation-of-turkey-reports-17-torture-cases-in-quake-zone-news-61955

Solidarity statement of the Socialists and Democrats, the Greens/EFA and the Left Groups in the European Parliament with the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Turkey The closure of HDP would be an irreversible blow to the democratic system of Türkiye and its relations with the EU. 
https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/publications/solidarity-statement-socialists-and-democrats-greensefa-and-left-groups-european

Statement by the Council of Europe on Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş The Council of Europe has again urged the Turkish authorities to immediately release Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş, in line with judgments from the European Court of Human Rights.
https://search.coe.int/directorate_of_communications/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectId=0900001680aa82c8

Commentaries 23: The Implications of Turkish Interventions in Rojava for US and EU Foreign Policiesby Dr. Veysi Dağ, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and SOAS
This essay focuses on the anti-intellectualism in Turkey in relation to the oppression, persecution, and discrediting of critical academics. It shows how this anti-intellectualism affects the reproduction and re-legitimation of war policies in regards to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. To this end, first it presents excerpts from in-depth interviews with academics who were dismissed from universities by presidential decrees for This paper examines how Turkish invasions into Northern Syria’s Kurdish enclave undermine US and European policy objectives. It argues that the Turkish state, obsessed with Kurdish hostility, endangers American and European foreign policies by further destabilising war-torn Syria, facilitating the empowerment of Islamist extremist groups, impeding a peaceful resolution to Syria’s protracted conflict, and assisting Russia’s anti-Western interests. The paper suggests that the US and Europe could rather deploy a dual strategy aimed at exerting pressure on Turkey to discontinue its disruptive and belligerent actions. To cease targeting anti-ISIS Kurdish forces, Turkey must either resume the Kurdish-Turkish peace process or risk being designated as a rival state, analogous to Russia, and subjected to punitive sanctions.
http://eutcc.net/?p=1280

EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Twitter: @EUTCC1
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