INTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVE (IPI)

PRESS STATEMENT (3rd December 2012) ON THE LAUNCH OF THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVE (IPI) By Judge Essa MOOSA, South Africa The International Peace Initiative (IPI) is launched today following a call by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for the resumption of dialogue between the Turkish Government and the PKK leader Abdullah calan. The call has the support of a number of World Leaders and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. It is common knowledge that the Turkish state and calan were engaged in prolonged discussion to find a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. These discussions culminated in August 2009 when calan handed the Turkish authorities his Road Map to Peace for consideration. 1 Archbishop Tutu has in the past consistently and persistently called upon the Turkish and Kurdish people to resolve their differences politically through dialogue and negotiations. He stressed that it can only be resolved through the involvement of the genuine leadership of the conflicting parties. In this regard he referred to the South African experience, when Nelson Mandela and F.W de Klerk initiated talks, which eventually transformed South Africa from apartheid to democracy. In July 2010, Archbishop Tutu addressed a personal letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoan, in which he called upon Erdoan to use his office and influence to bring about a lasting end to the conflict in Turkey. In the letter he expressed concern at the escalation of the conflict in which innocent lives from both sides are sacrificed.2 In September 2010, Archbishop welcomed the news that the Turkish government will be holding comprehensive official talks with calan. He said that it was the step in the right direction and supported the initiative. Information that leaked out last year indicated that Turkish intelligence officials had held talks with officials of PKK in Oslo.3 This was never denied by the Turkish government. During the early part of 2011 and just before the Turkish parliamentary elections, a lot of expectations were created both nationally and internationally, that the negotiations for the peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey would start in earnest after the parliamentary elections of 12 June 2011. These expectations were short-lived as the peaceful negotiations did not materialise. On the contrary, the conflict between the PKK and Turkey in fact intensified by such a degree that hundreds have been killed on both sides in 2012 alone. Deaths on this scale have not been recorded since the worst days of the 1990`s. On the 2nd April 2012 Archbishop Tutu wrote to the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe in which he said: Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are against war; we work for peace and seek an end to all on-going armed and political conflicts. Our sincere hope is that all people in the future can enjoy rights and liberties on equal basis..Unfortunately thousands of Turks and Kurds, many of them women and children have been killed in this conflict.4
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. Abdullah calan, The Road Map to Democratization of Turkey and Solution to the Kurdish Question. International Initiative Freedom for Abdullah calan Peace in Kurdistan 2011 2 . Letter available at http://kurdistancommentary.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/archbishop-tutu-to-mr-erdogan-july-2010.pdf

. Illegal Tape Alleges Secret PKK Talks, Hurriyet Daily News, 13th September 2011 1

INTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVE (IPI)

He further appealed to the Council of Europe to play its part in ensuring that that the Kurdish and Turkish people can live together in peace and democracy. The Archbishop made this appeal after 15 Kurdish activists embarked on a 52 day hunger strike in Strasbourg which ended on the 21st April.5 They had three demands namely, that the isolation of calan ends; that education be introduced in their mother tongue; and that the right to defend themselves in court in their mothertongue be permitted. It appears that measures have been introduced by the Turkish government to meet some of these demands.6 The draft Bill to allow legal defence in the mother-tongue is to be presented to Parliament in due course. calans brother Mehmet has been given permission to meet him on mrali Island recently. There is talk in political circles that mother-tongue education will be introduced. The launch of the International Peace Initiative coincides with the ending of the hunger strike by the more than 700 Kurdish prisoners. This followed a call made by calan from mrali Island through the visit of his brother Mehmet calan that the hunger-strikers call off the hunger-strike immediately.7 This demonstrated in no uncertain terms the power and influence which Ocalan wields from prison. It is the same sort of power and influence that Mandela wielded from prison. calan therefore is a key player in finding a lasting and peaceful settlement of the Kurdish issue in Turkey. Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin told reporters in Ankara recently that, Talks would be held with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).8 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan hinted at talks with PKK leader calan, admitting that the Kurdish leaders call has been effective in the ending of the hunger strike by political prisoners in Turkey9. Leyla Zana, a member of the Turkish parliament and the European Parliaments Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and Rafto Prize Laureate, met Prime Minister Erdoan personally a few months ago, and pleaded with him that the only way to solve the Kurdish issue in Turkey is by dialogue and negotiations with the genuine leadership of the Kurdish people including calan. She was one of the people who recently embarked on a hunger-strike recently in support of the political prisoners. The main opposition parties in Turkey have also called for the resolution of the Kurdish issue through dialogue. The objectives of the International Peace Initiative (IPI) are to work towards finding a lasting and durable peace in Turkey through a process of dialogue and negotiations between the Turkish Government and Abdullah calan, representing the Kurdish people, and to seek the support of the international community and international institutions to support, promote and encourage such process for the good of all the people of Turkey. The IPI will be headed by a Secretariat which will implement the objectives. It will, through periodic reports, inform Supporters, World Leaders, Nobel Prize Laureates, Policy- Makers and

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. Desmond Tutu writes to Council of Europe about Kurdish hunger strike, Firat News Agency 13th April 2012 . Cross-political group of MEPs express solidarity with Kurdish hunger strikers in Strasbourg published by GUE/NGL Group in the EP on Thursday 19 Apr 2012, EurActiv . Kurd militants end hunger strike in Turkey, deal seen, Reuters, 18th November . Kurdish prisoners end hunger strike after Ocalan appeal, BBC news website 18th November 2012

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. Turkey will hold talks with Kurdish militants, Reuters, 19th November 2012 . Erdoan admitted calan's influence in hunger strike, Firat News Agency 20th November 2012 2

INTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVE (IPI)

Members of the Public, of the developments in the peace process to find a lasting and permanent peace not only in Turkey but also in the Middle East as a whole. ISSUED BY THE SECRETARIAT OF THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVE EMAIL: airvin@ipi.net.com