Declaration of solidarity with Hatip DicleWe, the signatories, declare our solidarity with the elected independent candidate of the Labour, Democracy and Freedom block, Mr. Hatip Dicle - and call on the Supreme Electoral Board of Turkey (YSK ) - and other responsible bodies - to reverse the decision to revoke his parliamentary mandate immediately.
Hatip Dicle is, like all politicians of the electoral block for Labour, Democracy and Freedom, fully committed to the continuous work for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish question and the democratisation of Turkey. Therefore we are convinced that the recognition of his mandate and the recognition of the democratic will of the Kurdish population, are necessary steps in the direction of the democratisation as well as the stabilisation of the country.
Hatip Dicle was elected by 77,709 voters for the Turkish National Assembly as an independent candidate in Diyarbakir. The Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) of Turkey revoked Hatip Dicle‘s mandate on Tuesday 21st June 2011. Citizens who are imprisoned also enjoy the right to exercise their vote in Turkey - and they achieve immunity in case of being elected.
The politician served a 10-year prison sentence for the reason of speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament in the 1990s, together with Leyla Zana. In 2009 Hatip Dicle was arrested once again within the scope of the KCK case on account of juridically untenable allegations. Just before the election the YSK excluded him from standing as a candidate, but nevertheless, accredited his candidature following mass popular protests.
We are convinced that, for the solution of the Kurdish question to be achieved the following are necessary:- a recognition of the democratic will of the population, a political dialogue with the BDP and the members of the electoral block for Labour, Democracy and Freedom and the ending of the repressions against politically active Kurds and the leftwing opposition in Turkey, an immediate bilateral ceasefire, as well as dialogue between the government and all political actors involved in the conflict, including Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK.
In this context we expect the YSK – and other responsible bodies - to take a decision in accordance with human rights and democratic aims and the approve the mandate of Hatip Dicle.
First signatories:
Jürgen Klute (MdEP, Die Linke, GUE/NGL), Ingrid Remmers (MdB, Die Linke), Harald Weinberg (MdB, Die Linke), Andrej Hunko (MdB, Die Linke), Prof. Noam Chomsky (Institute Professor MIT, Cambridge, USA), John Austin (Former UK MP, Former Member of the PACE), Prof. Norman Paech (Professor for International Law, Former MdB), Heidrun Dittrich (MdB, Die Linke), Bärbel Beuermann (MdL NRW, Die Linke), Heinz-Jürgen Schneider (Lawyer / board member of the human rights association MAFDAD), Britta Eder (Lawyer, Hamburg), Martin Dolzer (Sociologist, Hamburg), Sabine Leidig (MdB, Die Linke), Dr. Les Levidov (Senior Research Fellow, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK), Dr. Joey Moses (Advocate of the High Court of South Africa and Chair of the National Association of democratic Lawyers, Western Cape, South Africa), Luisa Morgantini (Former Vice President of the EP), Maya Heuschmann (Coordinator of the Turkey section of Amnesty International Switzerland), Sarah Ludford (MdEP, Liberal Democrat European justice and human rights spokeswoman, Brüssel), Jürg Meyer (Pensionary Journalist, Basler Zeitung, Member of the `Grossen Rates des Kantons Basel-Stadt`, Sozialdemokratische Partei), Dr. Bircan Turan (Doctor, Zug, Switzerland), Giorgio Barbarini (MD, Researcher, Italy), Bruna Felici (Human Rights Activist, Italy), Dr. Peter Strutynski (Political Scientist, peace researcher, Kassel), Dr.Rudolph Bauer (Professor i.R., Bremen), Edgar Auth (Journalist, Frankfurt a.M.), Thomas Matthes (Lawyer, Bremen), Martin Glasenapp (medico international, Frankfurt a.M), Antonella di Biasi (Journalist, Rome), Özgür Rencberlik (Chief Editor of the Newspaper Özgür Politika, Frankfurt a.M.), Barbara Cardenas (MdL, Die Linke, Hessen), Carlo Dore (C.T.S. For Sustainable Tourism, Ancona), Benjamin Hiller (Journalist, Berlin), Wolfgang Jungheim (Pax Christi und Pastor for Migrants), Musa Kenan (Solicitor, Frankfurt a.M.), Muzzafer Yüksel (Diploma Merchand, Aachen), Enno Jäger, Lawyer, Hamburg), Christiane Schneider (MdHB, Die Linke, Hamburg), Cansu Özdemir (MdHB, Die Linke, Hamburg), Agnes von Alvensleben (Scientific assistant of Cansu Özdemir, Hamburg), Wolfgang Struwe (isku e.V. Hamburg), Yilmaz Kaba (Boardmember, Die Linke, Niedersachsen), Dr. Nick Brauns (Historian and Journalist, Berlin), Luqman Barwari (Associate Scientist, KNC PR Chair), Ellen Jaedicke (Human Rights Activist, Berlin), Kerem Schamberger (Boardmember, DKP, München), Hamide Akbayir (MdL, Die Linke, NRW), Memo Sahin (Dialog Kreis, Köln), Melanie Küpper (Diploma Social Worker Düsseldorf), Ali Atalan (MdL, Die Linke, NRW), Ilkay Yilmaz (Vorsitzende des Menschenrechtsvereins Tüday e.V, Köln), Cornelia Reinauer (ex Mayor of Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg), Prof Dr. Latif Waid (University Professor, London, UK), Villo Sigurdson (Former Mayor of Copenhagen, Denmark)
If you want to support the declaration of solidarity please send an e-mail including your name to: solidarity.dicle@googlemail.com
If you like you can add your title and profession.
If you like you can add your title and profession.
For further information
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/isku/
