The 11th International Conference on EU, Turkey, Middle East and the Kurds hosted by the EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) will be held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 10 -11 December 2014.

The 11th International EUTCC conference which will discuss “Chaos and Crisis in the Middle East: New Regional Order and the Kurds” will bring together internationally recognized speakers from various disciplines and fields together with the EUTCC patrons, Shirin Ebadi, Noam Chomsky, Bianca Jagger, Yasar Kemal, Leyla Zana and Vedat Turkali.

This year’s conference will also welcome Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Nobel Peace Laureate and Honorary Elder (founding member and chair of the Elders 2007-13); a veteran anti-apartheid activist and peace campaigner widely regarded as ‘South Africa’s moral conscience’.

Since 2004 the EUTCC has held an annual conference in the European Parliament. One of its most important tasks is to monitor Turkish compliance with the EU accession criteria. EUTCC wishes to contribute to the progress of Turkish membership of the EU by spreading accurate, objective information both in Turkey and Europe about the progress made by Turkey, but also about any shortcomings which may still persist.

By these conferences the EUTCC also wishes to contribute to a democratic, peaceful and lasting solution of the Kurdish problem. It believes that this can only be achieved through a dialogue between the parties concerned, in which also the EU must play its part. This will require not only further changes in legislation, but a change in the ideology and mentality at all levels of Turkish society. From a state seeing the expression of Kurdish culture and language as a threat to its own existence, Turkey must become a state that recognizes differences and sees cultural diversity and freedom as positive and necessary elements of a true democracy.

In these ten years there have been only minor reform changes in Turkey regarding the situation of the Kurds.