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PATRONS

ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS DESMOND TUTU Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, South Africa

SHIRIN EBADI Human Rights Lawyer | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Iran

BIANCA JAGGER Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador | Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, UK

NOAM CHOMSKY Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

LEYLA ZANA European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought | Rafto Prize Laureate, Turkey

 

Wednesday, 7th of December 2016, 13.00-14.00

OPENING SESSION, Room PHS 03C050 (“Paul-Henri Spaak Building”)

Interpretation in Turkish, Kurdish (passive), English, French, German

OPENING REMARKS AND GREETINGS

  • Ms. Kariane WESTRHEIM, Chair EUTCC, University of Bergen, Norway
  • Mr. Josef WEIDENHOLZER, MEP, Vice-President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament, Austria
  • Ms. Gabi ZIMMER, MEP, Chairwoman of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left Group (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament, Germany

OPENING SPEECHES AND SPECIAL REMARKS BY

  • Mr. Ebrahim EBRAHIM, Former Deputy Minister for International Relations and Co-operation, Member of the African National Congress National Executive Committee, South Africa
  • Message from Prison; Mr. Selahattin DEMIRTAS and Ms. Figen YUKSEKDAG, Co-Presidents of HDP (The Peoples' Democratic Party), Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

 

Wednesday, 7th of December 2016, 14.00-15.00

Panel I, Room PHS 03C050 (“Paul-Henri Spaak Building”)

(Interpretation in Turkish, Kurdish (passive), English, French, German)

 

THE MIDDLE EAST, THE KURDS AND THEIR FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM(S)

Moderator

Mr. Michael GUNTER, Tennessee Technological University, USA

THE LINES IN THE SAND: SYKES PICOT AND THE HISTORIC ROOTS OF THE KURDISH CONFLICT

  • Mr. Hamit BOZARSLAN, Professor of History and Sociology, Paris, France

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW IN TURKEY

  • Mr. David PHILLIPS, Director of Peace-Building and Human Rights Program, Columbia University, USA

TURKEY AND ITS ALLIES’ ROLE IN THE SYRIAN CRISIS

  • Mr. Fehim TASTEKIN, journalist, analyst and specialist in Turkish foreign policy, Caucasus, Middle East and EU affairs, Turkey

THE GENEVA PEACE TALKS ON SYRIA AND THE KURDS

  • Mr. Kamran MATIN, Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Sussex University, UK

QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION WITH MODERATORS & DISCUSSANTS

 

Wednesday, 7th of December 2016, 15.00-16.00

Panel II, Room PHS 03C050 (“Paul-Henri Spaak Building”)

(Interpretation in Turkish, Kurdish (passive), English, French, German)

THE DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVES FOR THE MIDDLE EAST

INTERVIEW SESSION WITH

  • Mr. Salih MUSLIM, Co-President of Democratic Union Party (PYD), Rojava-Syria
  • Mr. Carne ROSS, Writer on International Affairs, US (on SKYPE)
  • Mr. Jonathan STEELE, Veteran Foreign Correspondent and Author, UK

Thursday, 8th of December 2016, 09.30-13.00

Panel III, Room ASP 1G2 (“Altiero Spinelli Building”)

(Interpretation in Turkish, Kurdish (passive), English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese)

REGIME-CHANGE AND THE EVISCERATION OF DEMOCRACY IN TURKEY

Moderators

Ms. Marie-Christine VERGIAT, MEP, GUE/NGL Group in the EP, France

Ms. Dersim DAGDEVIREN, KURD-AKAD, Germany

TURKEY AT THE CROSSROADS: THE DEATH OF THE PEACE PROCESS

  • Mr. Cengiz CANDAR, Journalist, Turkey

THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND KURDISH MEDIA IN TURKEY

  • Ms. Devrim ARLSAN, Journalist, Firat News Agency (ANF), Kurdistan

THE LYNCHPIN OF THE PEACE PROCESS

  • Mr. Simon DUBBINS, International Director of UNITE, UK

THE PATH TO PEACE AND DEMOCRACY

  • Mr. Hatip DICLE, Co-Chair of The Democratic Society Congress (DTK), Turkey

WHAT COULD/SHOULD THE HUMAN RIGHTS WORLD DO ABOUT TURKEY

  • Mr. Dimitris CHRISTOPOULOS, President of the FIDH – Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and History – Panteion University (Athens GR).

THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR DUTIES

  • Ms. Ulrike LUNACEK, Vice-President of the EP, Group of the Greens – European Free Alliance in the European Parliament

THE HDP’S POLITICAL VISION FOR A DEMOCRATIC TURKEY

  • Mr. Osman BAYDEMIR, HDP Vice-President, Turkey

QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION WITH MODERATORS & DISCUSSANTS

 

Thursday, 8th of December 2016, 15.00-17.30

Panel V, Room ASP 1G2 (“Altiero Spinelli Building”)

(Interpretation in Turkish, Kurdish (passive), English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian)

THE KURDS AND THE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA FOR CHANGE IN TURKEY AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Moderator

Ms. Berivan ASLAN, MP, Green Party, Austria

WHAT ROLE FOR WESTERN POWERS?

  • Mr. Michael RUBIN, Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, USA

AGENDA FOR CHANGE: KURDISH PROSPECTS AND ALTERNATIVES

  • Mr. Zubeyr AYDAR, Member of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

  • Dr. Bill BOWRING, Professor of Law in the School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London and Author, UK

SELF-GOVERNANCE, DE-CENTRALISATION AND CO-EXISTENCE

  • Mr. Metin RHAWI, Representative of European Syriac Union (ESU), North-Syria

THE PERSPECTIVE OF A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE CYPRUS PROBLEM AND HOW THIS INFLUENCES THE WHOLE MIDDLE EAST AND THE KURDS

  • Mr. Takis HADJIGEORGIOU, MEP, GUE/NGL Group in the EP, Cyprus

EQUALITY OF RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES

  • Mr. Johannes DE JONG, European Christian Political Movement (ECPM), The Netherlands

QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION WITH MODERATORS & DISCUSSANTS

 

Thursday, 8th of December 2016, 17.30-1830

Panel VI, Room ASP 1G2 (“Altiero Spinelli Building”)

(Interpretation in Turkish, Kurdish (passive), English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese)

CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINAL RESOLUTION

EUTCC Board Members

Ms. Dersim DAGDEVIREN, KURD-AKAD, Germany

Mr. Michael GUNTER, Tennessee Technological University, USA

Ms. Kariane WESTRHEIM, University of Bergen, Norway

 

    

IMPORTANT TECHNICAL INFORMATION

“HOW TO PARTICIPATE AND ENTER THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT”

For more information contact: [email protected]

As an official “European Parliament personal badge/pass” will be available for all participants to the Conference, all participants must communicate before the 28th of November to the email [email protected] the following mandatory information:

1) Name and surname
2) Date of birth
3) Nationality
4) Place and country of residence (if possible, the full address of residence)
5) Number of a valid document (ex: passport, national ID, etc…)

According to the rules established by the Security Department of the European Parliament, please be informed that NO ACCREDITATION will be consider after the 28th of November.

Your “personal badge / pass” will be available at the main entrance of the European Parliament (Place de Luxembourg – main European Parliament's building “Altiero Spinelli” – just after the sliding doors you'll find a conference desk), during and only the following date / hours:

– Wednesday 7th of December, 11:30 – 13:00
– Thursday 8th December, 08.30 – 09:30
– Thursday 8th December, 13:30 – 15:00

All participants must take care of their own “EP badge / pass” during both days; if someone lose the “pass / badge” it will be impossible for the conference's organizers to replace it, according to the E.P. internal rules.

For any additional information, please contact the conference's secretariat:
[email protected]