Newsletter

Dear Sir or Madam,
Please find below our monthly newsletter. 
Kind regards Kariane Westrheim EUTCC Chairperson 

Statement by S&D on the progress report prepared by MEP Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey The S&D urges Ankara to end its authoritarian drift and stop accommodating Russia. Turkey should instead align with the EU sanctions imposed against the Kremlin. 
https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/newsroom/no-grounds-resuming-accession-negotiations-ankara

Press conference on the situation of political prisoners in Turkey in the Geneva Press clubSpeakers: Lawyers for Freedom R. Ergül, Asrın Law Office R. Sarıca & Permanent Representative to the UN, American Association of Jurists G. Fattorini 
https://twitter.com/genevapressclub/status/1536982517571407873?t=oat5n_8ZcbKBpTKq4vb0kg&s=19

Eren Keskin, co-chair of Human Rights Association on paramilitary forces in the Kurdish majority areas of Turkey“These paramilitary structures are free to do anything while civil society considered to be terrorists.” 
http://mezopotamyaajansi35.com/en/ALL-NEWS/content/view/175192

Briefing by World Organisation Against Torture Authorities in Turkey use anti-terror laws as a weapon against human rights work, criminalizing thousands of peaceful activists. 
https://www.omct.org/en/resources/reports/turkey-the-instrumentalization-of-the-counter-terrorism-legislation-and-policies-and-their-impact-on-hrds

World Refugee DayThe number of refugees around the world has surpassed 100 million. On World Refugee Day, the EUTCC remains committed to democratisation in the Middle East and Turkey. A political solution to the Kurdish question is an essential factor here. 

EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Dear Sir or Madam,
Please find below our monthly newsletter. 
Kind regards Kariane Westrheim EUTCC Chairperson 

Turkey Report by EP Committee on Foreign Affairs MEPs 

In spite of Turkey’s repeated declarations on the objective of EU accession, over the past two years the country has consistently gone back on its commitments in relation to the accession process, warn EP Committee on Foreign Affairs MEPs in their 2021 report on Turkey.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220509IPR29116/turkey-report-persistently-further-from-eu-values-and-standards

Statement by HDP Foreign Affairs Spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy on the prison sentence against CHP İstanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu Approval of the prison sentences against CHP İstanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu should be seen as another crackdown on government opposition ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections. 
https://hdp.org.tr/en/turkish-supreme-court-upholds-prison-sentence-against-opposition-politician-ms-canan-kaftancioglu/16399/

Statement by HDP Women’s Assembly “As we have always stated, HDP is a women’s party. The government, well aware of this fact, blatantly attacks not only a political party but also the will of women.”
https://hdp.org.tr/en/the-akp-mhp-government-blatantly-attacks-not-only-hdp-but-also-women-s-will/16378/

Bianet Male Violence Monitoring Report May 2022Men inflicted violence on at least 64 women, abused at least 22 girls and boys, harassed at least 11 women, and forced 65 women to do sex work.
https://m.bianet.org/english/diger/262793-men-kill-32-women-in-may

Resolution by the European Parliament on the verdict in the Gezi Case and Osman Kavala’s life sentence 
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/RC-9-2022-0227_EN.html

EUTCC Commentaries #17Turkey’s Military Urbanism and Neocolonial Architecture in Kurdish Cities
by Diren Taş, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich – Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Executive Summary: This commentary focuses on how the Turkish state facilitates military urbanism as revanchist and racialized mechanisms of collective punishment to suppress grassroots mobilization, oppositional politics, and resistance in Kurdish cities. Based on an ethnographic case study in Sur, Diyarbakır, it shows how neocolonial urban policies are employed to annihilate, displace, and dispossess localities while replacing them with standardized, bordered, and financialized architectures of state security and control. Mass scale destructions, militarized policies, and coercive restructuring in Kurdish cities reveal the state’s emergent spatial strategy to recolonize the region at the urban level. The state dominates, frames, and reconfigures Kurdish urbanities so as to eliminate alternatives, opposition, and challenges to its existing and deepening hegemony. 
https://journals.tplondon.com/com/article/view/2100
EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Dear Sir or Madam, 
please find below our monthly newsletter. 

Kind regards 
Prof. Kariane Westrheim Chairperson 

…

Statement on Turkey’s cross-boarder military offensive Turkey launched another large-scale military offensive in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on the evening of 17 April. Attacks on northern Syria also continue. The war in Ukraine is both a reminder and a call to outlaw and combat war crimes and violations of international law immediately and everywhere. We strongly condemn Turkey’s cross-border military offensive. The international community is called upon to take a clear stand on the side of international law in this war as well and to impose appropriate sanctions immediately. 
http://eutcc.net/?p=1063

Bianet Male Violence Monitor April 2022 Report- 29 women killed – 52 women subjected to violence- 2 women raped- 38 women forced to sex work 
https://m.bianet.org/english/women/261319-men-kill-29-women-in-april

World Press Freedom Day Press freedom is under pressure in every part of the world. However, democracy needs a free and critical press. Therefore the EUTCC remains also committed to the struggle for press freedom. 

EUTCC Commentaries #16: Environmental Racism and Resistance in Kurdistanby Pınar Dinç, Lund University Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Earth, but such generalised reading entails that conceal the uneven effects of environmental degradation. When environmental degradation takes place on the lands of the marginalised groups, it is often overlooked or further justified by hegemonic powers that view these areas as natural resources or hideouts for insurgent groups that need to be drained. The embedded prejudice and discrimination against the internal others are often inflamed through the media and followed by the dominant society. This commentary addresses this issue of differential significance attributed to environmental degradation in Kurdistan and discusses how the concept of ecological racism may help uncovering this variance. In doing so, this piece covers the existing literature about conflict and environment nexus in Kurdistan, and suggests ways forward to advance knowledge and work towards political and ecological justice. 
https://journals.tplondon.com/com/article/view/2189

International Worker’s DayThe EUTCC sends its appreciation & respect on the International Workers Day to workers of every field all over the world. It is time to remember & celebrate the achievements of labor organizations & social movements whose efforts & struggles have led to a more dignified working life for millions of workers. Let us join forces and unite in the work of making the world a place where there is justice and dignity for all. 

www.eutcc.net
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Dear Sir or Madam, 
please find below our monthly newsletter. 

Kind regards 
Prof. Kariane Westrheim Chairperson 

Commentaries #15: Delisting the PKK as a terrorist organization By Prof. Michael Gunter, Tennessee Technical University, USDelisting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as a terrorist organization would be a bold, imaginative move by Turkey, the European Union (EU), and the United States (US), among others, that might contribute to the peace process and benefit all concerned parties. However, Turkey presently does not want to acknowledge collective rights for its ethnic Kurds, and is willing to grant merely limited and begrudgingly individual rights such as mother-tongue language in the schools and a Kurdish TV channel, among a few others. Thus, there remains a very long way still to go, but delisting the PKK is surely one important start along this necessary journey. 

http://eutcc.net/?p=1044

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitution has passed the election bill Reduction of the election threshold from 10 to 7 percent; Exemption of the president from election silence; Changes in the calculation method for the distribution of deputies to the parties
https://m.bianet.org/5/94/259538-parliamentary-committee-on-constitution-passes-election-bill

Statement by HDP Foreign Affairs Co-spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy on the police raids against women in DiyarbakırIt is no coincidence that these detentions took place after International Women’s Day and just before the Newroz celebrations. Citing these celebrations as a justification, the government criminalizes women who are fighting for women’s freedom and justice. 
https://hdp.org.tr/en/police-operations-have-targeted-women-in-diyarbakir/16233/

Report on violations of children’s rights, released by Diyarbakır Bar Association – 22 children lost their lives, 27 children were injured in armored vehicle crashes (21 in Kurdish majority provinces)- 45 children lost their lives as a result of war remnants
http://mezopotamyaajansi35.com/en/ALL-NEWS/content/view/163727

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 

Commentaries #14: Kurdish Allies and Kurdish Enemies: Turkey’s New War Against The PKK By Kamal Chomani and Dastan Jasim This paper focuses on the post-2015 Turkish warfare against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and the long-running relationship between the Turkish state and the ruling Barzani family. The commentary presents an overview of the interests behind the Ankara-Erbil coalition and the wider stakes in the current conflict It is argued that the Turkish military operations not only have taken a great toll on the civilian population of the KRI and the ecology of the region, but destabilizes the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. A full-blown civil war in the KRI between the PKK and KDP provoked by Turkey could be the final straw removing the last of the post-Islamic State stability in Iraq.
http://eutcc.net/?p=982

Statement by Peter Stano, Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on the Council of Europe decision launching infringement proceedings for non-execution of ECHR judgment It is regrettable that the Turkish authorities have refused to execute the respective ECHR’s ruling. Such attitude sets a worrying precedent and further increases the EU’s concerns regarding Turkish judiciary’s adherence to international and European standards.
https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/110462/turkey-statement-spokesperson-council-europe-decision-launching-infringement-proceedings-non_en

Statement by HDP Foreign Affairs Co-speakers Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy on Turkey’s cross border operations against Kurdish majority areas of Syria and Iraq A return to peace negotiations in the context of the Kurdish issue is essential for Kurds, Turks, and other peoples of the Middle East and also beyond. It is also essential for the defeat of ISIS, which requires regional stability. Under these attacks, stability seems to be impossible.
https://hdp.org.tr/en/more-deaths-and-destruction-in-turkeys-cross-border-attacks-in-iraq-and-syria/16110/#.Yfu5ElwnfNU.twitter

Statement by HDP Foreign Affairs Co-speakers Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy on the decision of European Court of Human Rights regarding the immunity of HDP Deputies The Court ruled that the lifting of their immunities infringed their right of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, in contravention of article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
https://hdpeurope.eu/2022/02/european-court-rules-that-lifting-mp-immunities-contravenes-human-rights/

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Twitter: @EUTCC1
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