FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EU TURKEY AND THE KURDS

FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EU, TURKEY AND THE KURDS
the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary and the public use of the ecclesiastical
title of the Ecumenical Patriarch;
22) The Conference is disappointed at the limited progress made in strengthening
the social dialogue mechanisms in Turkey and calls upon the Turkish
government to fully implement ILO conventions, underlining the need to
remove current restrictions on freedom of association, the right to strike and
the right to collective bargaining;
23) The Conference underlines its view that the resolution of the armed conflict
in Turkey is essential to the establishment of a stable, democratic and peaceful
Turkey capable of entering the European Union. True democratic reform
can only occur if Turkey undertakes new political reform to its state institutions
and banishes adherence to ethnic nationalism which is the root cause
of the conflict and Turkey’s endemic instability;
24) This Conference therefore asserts that the Kurdish people and their representatives
should be given a genuine participatory role in the accession process
and in any debate over Turkey’s democratic constitutional future;
Confidence Building Measures
The Conference further asserts that more must and can be done on all sides and calls
for the following confidence building measures to be adopted:
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25) This conference notes that the resolution of the conflict and the constitutional
recognition of Kurds in Turkey are central to regional stability;
26) In this respect, the Conference calls upon the Turkish Government to begin
a public debate about the constitutional recognition of the existence of the
Kurdish people within Turkey;
27) The Conference calls upon all political parties in Turkey to help foster the
conditions within Turkey for a democratic platform for dialogue;
28) The Conference urges Turkey to recognize that for democracy to function, it
is imperative that local municipalities across the country enjoy the full support
of national government;
29) In particular, the Conference calls upon the Turkish Government to ensure
that all legally constituted democratic parties are allowed to engage in peaceful
political activity without interference or constant threat of closure, with
particular reference to the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and its current