Invitation to Özgür Özel and Feti Yıldız from the panel in Diyarbakır

The Social Peace and Freedom Forum will be held in Diyarbakır between May 12-16. The forum, which will feature various workshops, will also discuss the reflections, current status, and place in society of the "Turkey Without Terror" process. CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and MHP Deputy Chairman Feti Yıldız have also been invited to the Peace and Freedom Forum, which is organized by the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and marks the first international forum of its kind in many years. Representatives of different political parties, NGOs, and associations are also expected to participate in the 5-day event.

MORE THAN 40 WORKSHOPS WILL BE HELD

Making statements regarding the subject, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Serra Bucak stated that they found it appropriate to hold such an important international meeting and forum because they believe there should be a contribution from Diyarbakır to the process of peace, negotiation, building a democratic society, and building social peace that they are currently in and going through.

Mayor Bucak said, "The work has been ongoing since September. As you mentioned, it will be an international gathering. It will be a broad-based meeting covering all scales—national, international, regional, and local—from the worlds of academia, thought, philosophy, activism, and institutes and research centers working for peace. It will take place in Diyarbakır on May 12-16, and there will be more than 40 workshops, perhaps 7-8-9 of them simultaneously every day, with a quite high number of workshops continuing in different venues, and at the same time, there will be panels. In these panels, we will have discussions on social consensus, the constitution, and legal regulations in the new peace process, and while talking about Turkey's own peace and democratization, we will have panels in the context of what will happen to the status of Kurds and other communities or mother tongues. We will also have language workshops and a language panel regarding conflict, resolution, and whether peace is possible in the Middle East, and how it can be achieved, along with solution proposals."

Noting that they will spend 5 full days, Bucak continued as follows:

"Our most important issue here is that the subject of negotiation and peace should not only be discussed by academic or political circles, but should be spread from the grassroots by all segments of society, reflected to the grassroots, and give us direction in light of the discussions coming from the grassroots. We will have a full 5 days where we will discuss how the outputs of this workshop can be handled from the grassroots for the next process, both as the city of Diyarbakır and for the peace of our country on a larger scale, from the perspective of youth, women, the disabled, human rights defenders, and activists. Unfortunately, we have all seen together every 10 years a process where people could barely come side by side and talk to each other, in a different variety each time. I say every 10 years because in Turkey's political history and social life, there have been coups, the 80s coup, the 90s, the state of emergency (OHAL) regime in the 90s, and then the 2000s, which evolved in a different direction but still, unfortunately, could not be solved through peaceful and democratic methods, especially the Kurdish issue and many of Turkey's unresolved problems. We want different segments and layers of society to discuss through workshops many problems and issues, such as where society stands in this, and why society's activists, women, youth, and children are deprived of their rights in this environment of conflict where peace cannot be established."

"LIVING TOGETHER WILL BE DISCUSSED"

Emphasizing that the participation of society is needed for the forum to turn into a real common ground, Mayor Bucak said:

"Let them tell their relatives and acquaintances what this forum and these workshops are like. Especially university students and high school students need to participate in their own peer groups for this forum, the Social Peace and Freedom Forum, this participatory joint forum hosted by the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, to turn into a real common ground. I would like to thank our coordination within the municipality, which was established for the formation of the Social Peace and Freedom Forum and its related panels and workshops, plus the volunteer network that goes beyond our municipality. I wish and believe that we will have a very full five days. In this city, it will be discussed in the panels that peace is possible. It will be discussed that living together is possible and how it will be done."

"WE INVITED EVERYONE TO THE FORUM WITHOUT CONDITIONS FOR PEACE"

Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Doğan Hatun, who stated that they invited everyone to the forum for peace without conditions, said, "We have reached almost 90 percent of the institutions, organizations, artists, academics, all civil society organizations of the city, and political parties that have previously carried out work in this sense in the international arena, and they said they would participate. We also invited political parties at the central level. We hope they will come, and we will discuss this process together.

At the central level, we invited the Chairman of the CHP. I mean, we invited him for the opening speech. It is highly likely that it will be clear in the last days whether he will come or not. In the same way, we invited Feti Yıldız from the Nationalist Movement Party. He will also give information about whether he will come in the last days. Again, DEM Party, Democratic Regions Party, and all civil organizations of Diyarbakır that have experience in working for peace at the central level are already participating in the forum as workshops. That is, they are coming by making a contribution.

We did not put any discrimination between anyone. We invited everyone here who can establish a dialogue for peace, who wants to put in effort, who wants to sweat, who wants to carry a drop of water, without conditions. Because this is how the peace process is discussed. It is discussed with everyone. This will also turn into something that will strengthen the hands of both sides currently conducting negotiations at the central level."

"THE OUTPUTS OF THE FORUM WILL BE SENT TO THE PARLIAMENT AND POLITICAL PARTIES"

Pointing out that the forum could open a new door, Co-Mayor Hatun continued his speech as follows:

"They will be able to speak more comfortably, discuss more comfortably, and negotiate; they will say a new word, and we are hopeful about this. We will already record all our workshops, panels, and other artistic works. We will have a final declaration, but in the end, we will compile everything discussed in this forum, what the solution proposals were, what was criticized, and what was suggested into a booklet or brochure, and we will share it with the entire public, of course. And we will send this to the headquarters of these political parties, and we will send it to the parliament. And this can create a ground where everyone who has a say, without conditions—the disadvantaged, the youth, women, those who want to perform art—can discuss the risks they might be forced to face, such as having to migrate from here.

In the end, of course, the fundamental, ultimate issue is what the thousand-year-old issue between Kurds and Turks, the conflictual process of the last 100 years, and the last 50 years, should evolve into. Where will a young person, a disadvantaged citizen, and people in these other fields of work see themselves in this country, this geography, and this city, and what will they have planned, what will they want to happen? What will that state of mind, that psychological crisis, evolve into in the absolute end of this peace? I mean, it is a very detailed and comprehensive issue where we can discuss what the current situation is and what it will evolve into. Living in an environment of peace is the right of every human being since the moment they are born.

In fact, it has been their right since their past history. Such peace problems are carried out in workshops to organize tomorrows where all people will live together equally, fairly, and freely. And as the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, we hope that such a study will shed light on our own city, our own people, and all peoples."

News Source: İHA