Newsletter

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

Mourning for EP’s PresidentThe EUTCC is saddened to hear of the passing of David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament. Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. 

Commentaries #13: Turkish Paramilitaries during the Conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ PartyBy Dr. Ayhan Işık Executive Summary: This paper focuses on how the paramilitary organisations of the Turkish state have transformed and been used over time as a ‘useful’ tool against dissidents, especially the Kurds. Paramilitary groups have been one of the main actors in the war between the Turkish state and the PKK, which has been ongoing for nearly forty years. These groups have sometimes been used as auxiliary forces and at other times made into death squads operating alongside the official armed forces, and they have mainly been used against Kurdish civilians who allegedly supportthe PKK, especially at the height of the war in unsolved murders, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings since the 1980. In this article, I argue that the Turkish state elites use this apparatus not only in domestic politics but also in conflicts in the Middle East and the Caucasus and that this paramilitary tradition of the state even extends to western Europe 
http://eutcc.net/?p=942

Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV): At least 18 people killed in armored vehicle crashes in four years, mostly in Kurdish majority southeast. 
https://m.bianet.org/5/97/256914-at-least-18-people-killed-in-armored-vehicle-crashes-in-four-years

Turkey ranks first in violations of freedom of expression again, show the 2021 annual statistics of the European Court of Human Rights 
https://m.bianet.org/english/law/256797-turkey-ranks-first-in-violations-of-freedom-of-expression-show-ecthr-statistics

Congratulations The EUTCC congratulates Roberta Metsola on the election as President of the European Parliament. The EUTCC also congratulates Tiny Cox on the election as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 

EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Please find below our monthly newsletter.
Kind regards 
|Prof. Kariane Westrheim Chairperson 

>Statement in memory of Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, one of our patrons

http://eutcc.net/?p=920

>Statement by MEPs Nacho Sánchez Amor (Turkey Rapporteur) and Sergey Lagodinsky, Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee on the decision to start infringement proceedings against Turkey at the Council of Europe
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20211202IPR18654/turkish-authorities-must-show-political-will-and-meet-international-commitments

>HDP Europe launches a letter campaign for Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) political prisoners in Turkey.
https://hdpeurope.eu/2021/12/a-letter-campaing-freedom-will-not-be-limited-to-prison-walls/

>68 women’s organizations demand the release of former HDP MP and ill prisoner Aysel Tuğluk (diagnosed with dementia)
https://m.bianet.org/english/women/255110-women-s-organizations-call-for-politician-ill-prisoner-aysel-tugluk-s-release

>Mail violence monitoring report December 2021
https://m.bianet.org/english/women/255739-men-kill-34-women-in-december

EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Dear Sir or Madam,
Please find below our monthly newsletter.
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|Dersim Dağdeviren Board member 

>EUTCC Commentaries #12 by Dr. Emre Turkut: On the Collateral Impact of Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn: Re-securitization of the Kurdish Issue and the Kurds’ Struggle for Minority Recognition and Self-Determination 

Executive Summary: Since the collapse of the peace process in 2015, the Turkish Government has sought to turn every move towards Kurdish rights into an existential threat – a process led to the re-securitization of the Kurdish question. Ever since the descent of Turkey into an authoritarian polity has begun in the aftermath of the June 2015 elections, the Kurdish minority has suffered a brutal crackdown marked by high of political imprisonment and greater restrictions on freedom of assembly and association and on electoral aspects of self-determination. This commentary will take a closer look at the dire consequences of the collateral impact of Turkey’s authoritarian turn on the Kurdish political movement from the perspectives of minority rights and self-determination.

http://eutcc.net/?p=894

>Press release by European Parliament’s Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Sergey Lagodinsky on the latest court decision regarding Osman Kavala It confirms once again that Turkey is in a deep judicial and democratic crisis.

https://lagodinsky.de/presse/kavala-remains-in-prison-missed-opportunity-for-a-fresh-start-for-eu-turkey-relations/

>Statement by the lawyers of the Kobanî CaseLegal defence is under grave threat!
https://hdp.org.tr/en/legal-defence-is-under-grave-threat/15918/

>Information note by HDP Foreign Affairs Co-Spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy regarding the latest developments in the Kobanî caseIn dialogue with HDP’s lawyers and legal affairs commission, we are writing this statement to inform you about alarming unlawful developments that undermine the possibility of a fair trial in the Kobanî case, which was launched against 108 people, including former co-hairs as well as all other members of the party’s Central Executive Board in 2014, based on bogus terrorism-related charges.
https://hdp.org.tr/en/the-kobani-case-violating-the-right-to-a-fair-trial/15907/

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Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find below our monthly newsletter.
Kind regards 
Prof. Kariane Westrheim Chairperson 

EUTCC Commentaries #11 by Dr. Arzu Yılmaz: What Will Happen to the Kurds if the US Withdraws from Syria and Iraq?The future of the Kurds in Iraq and Syria after a US withdrawal has already begun to take shape. The containment of Kurdish political and military cross‐border mobility has been achieved to some extent by paving the way for Turkey’s military operations; it is now contingent on the recomposition of a desired ‘favorable balance of power” to fill the power vacuum in the Middle East. With an aggressive Turkish stance in the region, however, neither this containment policy nor the efforts made toward themaintenance of the “favorable balance of power” can be successful.

http://eutcc.net/?p=875
Key findings of the European Commission’s Report on Turkey There are serious deficiencies in the functioning of Turkey’s democratic institutions. Democratic backsliding continued during the reporting period. Structural deficiencies of the presidential system remained in place. Key recommendations of the Council of Europe and its bodies remain to be addressed. The Parliament continued to lack the necessary means to hold the government accountable. The constitutional architecture continued to centralise powers at the level of the Presidency without ensuring a sound and effective separation of powers between the executive, legislative and the judiciary. 

Statement by European Parliament’s Turkey Rapporteur Nacho Sánchez Amor and Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Sergey Lagodinsky on Erdoğan’s order to declare 10 ambassadors ‘persona non grata’
The measures announced by President Erdoğan against 10 ambassadors over their statement on the ongoing persecution of businessman Osman Kavala are incomprehensible and completely baseless. 

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20211025IPR15735/turkey-a-serious-diplomatic-crisis-that-can-still-be-avoided
EU Turkey Civic Commission
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Twitter: @EUTCC1
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Dear Sir or Madam,
Please find below our monthly newsletter.
Kind regards 

Prof. Kariane Westrheim Chairperson 

EUTCC Commentary #10Written by Harun Ercan Authoritarianism from Above and Below: Exclusive Nationalism and the Turkish‐Kurdish Conflict

HDP Declaration Peoples’ Democratic Party Co-Chairs Pervin Buldan and Prof. Dr. Mithat Sancar announced the declaration “Call for Justice, Democracy and Peace”HDP calls for a democratic constitution based on equal citizenship with respect towards different cultures, identities, faiths and native languages, ways of life and a secular way of life.
https://hdpeurope.eu/2021/09/hdp-let-us-win-together-we-call-for-justice-democracy-and-peace/

CoE’s Committee of Ministers supervisions of the execution of ECtHR’s judgments in Kavala and Demirtaş casesThe Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has reiterated its call for the release of Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş. 
Osman Kavala:https://search.coe.int/cm/pages/result_details.aspx?objectid=0900001680a3c4d0

Selahattin Demirtaş: https://search.coe.int/cm/pages/result_details.aspx?objectid=0900001680a3c4da

Statement by CoE Commissioner for Human Rights on prolongation of Osman Kavala’s detention Dunja Mijatovic: The prolongation of detention of Osman Kavala displays contempt for human rights and the rule of law 

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