EP to host 13th International Conference on “EU, Turkey and the Kurds"

The European Parliament will host the 13th International Conference on “EU, Turkey and the Kurds" on 7-8 December this year.

The annual International Conference held in the European Parliament will take place on 7-8 December this year.

The conference titled “The European Union, Turkey, Middle East and Kurds” will discuss the crisis in the Middle East, latest situation in Turkey and the Kurdish question. A large number of academics and experts from all around the world are expected to attend the conference.

Supported by the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the conference is organised under the leadership of;

- South African Archbishop, social rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu,

- Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi,

- Nicaraguan social and human rights advocate and Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger,

- American linguist, philosopher and author Noam Chomsky,

- European Parliament Sakharov prize laureate and Kurdish politician Leyla Zana.

The two-day conference will handle the 100th year of the Sykes Picot Agreement, resolution for the crisis in the Middle East and the role of the Kurds as well as the pressures against HDP and the latest situation in Turkey under the increasingly dictatorial regime of Erdoğan.

The conference will be opened under the title "Turkey, Kurds and War in the Middle East – Democracy Suspended in Turkey, ISIS and Crisis in the Middle East. The opening speech will be held by Kariane Westrheim from the University of Bergen, MEPs Josef Weidenholzer and Gabi Zimmer.

The conference will be attended by various leading politicians and journalists including Hamit Bozarslan,David Phillips,Fehim Taştekin, Salih Muslim, Cengiz Çandar, Michael Rubin, Osman Baydemir, Ulrike Lunacek and Melle Bahtiyar.