Amed (Diyarbakır) City Protection and Solidarity Platform made a statement at Şêx Seîd Square on the occasion of 1 September World Peace Day. Many representatives of political parties and non-governmental organisations in the city attended the statement. 

 

Co-spokesperson of the Platform Yıldız Ok Orak read the press statement and emphasised that for decades, securityist approaches have deepened the Kurdish issue rather than solving it.  Pointing to the process that started after Turkish Nationalist Movement (MHP) Leader Devlet Bahçeli's speech in Parliament and Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" on 27 February, Yıldız Ok Orak drew attention to the failures of previous solution processes and stated that social trust has been shaken. 

 

"It is vital that the steps to be taken today are transparent, inclusive and decisive. Otherwise, those who sabotage the process and engage in provocative actions will face a heavy responsibility before history and society," she said.  

 

Criticising the language of the media, Yıldız Ok Orak said that the broadcasting policies that cause tension polarise the public opinion. Stating that the media has a responsibility to publish in a brave and balanced manner, Yıldız Ok Orak also criticised the embargo imposed on the Kurdish speech of the Peace Mothers in the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission established in the Parliament for the solution of the Kurdish issue.

 

Yıldız Ok Orak reminded that they had visited political parties with groups in the Parliament as a platform in January, and listed their demands as follows: 

 

"* We will support and follow the process to be developed for the solution of the Kurdish issue through dialogue,

 

* Stating that all segments should act responsibly in order to ensure that the process to be carried out is carried out with a perspective based on universal human rights, away from political concerns,

 

* In the process to be developed, possible bottlenecks should be met with cold-bloodedness and insistence on the peaceful solution of the issue should be persistent and courageous,

 

* Cancellation of the text of the law containing the authority to appoint trustees, which constitutes a violation of citizens' right to vote,

 

* To make legal arrangements for the elimination of obstacles to the use of the mother tongue in education and public spaces,

 

* The civil and democratic constitution-making process should be initiated as soon as possible,

 

* Approaches and discourses that recognise the rights of Kurds in Syria should be developed,

 

* The obstacles to the implementation of the violation judgements of the Constitutional Court and the ECtHR by local courts must be removed."

 

Yıldız Ok Orak concluded: "The way to make the historical significance of 1 September World Peace Day more meaningful is to embrace the struggle for an honourable peace in these lands, which we need as much as bread and water for our day and our people."

 

The statement ended with applause.