Different ethnic groups, journalists, artists, academics and politicians from Turkey have organised a two-day conference in Berlin, Germany.  The conference kicked off yesterday under the motto "Come, from now on we will talk about the Turkey we want to live in together".

Organisers of the conference who have worked around the need for a "Social Contract for a democratic Turkey” said; “We are not willing to watch our country from far away as people who were forced to live in exile at some point in their lives but did not lose hope about the land we were born and the society we once lived in. We need to come together, discuss and build our tomorrow.”

Today’s session of the conference discussed the proposals expressed by the Social Contract Quest working groups.

The 8 groups formed on the first day of the conference have been engaged in separate workshop efforts since yesterday. The groups made their presentations moderated by HDP former MP Nursel Aydoğan, journalist-writer Hayko Bağdat and Mustafa Sarısülük.

The proposals presented by the groups for a new and democratic Turkey were titled “Peace and Democracy”, “Women, LGBTI, Ecology”, “Poverty, Unemployment and Labor”, “Communities and Beliefs”, “Rehabilitation of Turkey”, “International Communication”, “Press freedom in Turkey” and “Democratic Alliance”.

‘WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION IS THE KEY CONDITION’

The workshop “Women, LGBTI, Ecology” pointed out that women were the most affected group by the increasing warmongering and violence environment in Turkey and the Middle East. The group remarked that the government was usurping, one by one, the rights achieved by women.

The group members highlighted that inevitable conditions for a democratic Turkey included valuing women’s domestic labor, securing women’s future, ensuring their participation in public life on basis of equality and freedoms, making social gender equality dominate all areas of life, ensuring equal representation of women in all working areas.

Another working group, “Rehabilitation of Turkey”, made a presentation asking: “How can we achieve a democratic, peaceful, libertarian and pluralist beginning after the end of the authoritarian and repressive ruling in Turkey?”.

On the other hand, İyi Party Representative for Berlin, Mahican Balcıya, attended the conference and made a speech.

The groups will be presenting their proposals till the evening hours before the conference is concluded with a final declaration.

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