KurdistanObserver.com

August 30, 2005

Turks and Kurds must choose between peaceful coexistence or a return to violence,’ believes Uzun, a Kurdish-language writer who is to attend the conference in Brussels

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Only days ahead of the October start of Turkey's membership talks with the European Union, Brussels will host a conference on the controversial Kurdish issue in Turkey.

European Parliament President Josep Borrell and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn are among those who will deliver speeches at the two-day conference, running from Sept. 19 to 20, according to an announcement from the Norway-based Rafto Foundation.

The September conference is a follow-up to a conference held last November prior to a December EU summit at which European leaders set the Oct. 3 date for the start of Turkey's entry talks with the 25-nation bloc.

  “The conference in Brussels will focus on the human rights situation in Turkey, especially focusing on the conditions for the Kurdish people,” the Rafto Foundation says on its Web site. The group will hold the conference at European Parliament in collaboration with the Kurdish Human Rights Project (UK), Medico International (Germany) and Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales.

Prominent Kurdish and Turkish representatives from different political and civilian organizations have been invited and will contribute to the conference at which human rights issues, including democratic and parliamentary reforms, will be discussed, the foundation said, however, it did not elaborate on the names of those invited from Turkey.

Uzun trusts in ‘peaceful coexistence of Turks and Kurds':

Yet Kurdish-language writer Mehmed Uzun, who has recently returned to Turkey after 28 years of exile in Europe, told Hürriyet daily that he would attend the conference in Brussels.

“I believe in the universal nature of the word. I will make a speech on Sept. 19 at European Parliament and I will use that opportunity to tell them about democratization in Turkey. Most importantly, I will support Turkey's admission into the EU,” Uzun was quoted as saying in yesterday's Hürriyet.

“Turks and Kurds must choose between peaceful coexistence or a return to violence,” Uzun, who describes himself as “Kurdish, Turkish and Scandinavian,” said soon after his return to Turkey. The remark was an apparent reference to deadly violence that has recently escalated in the Southeast due to attacks by members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).