The Mesopotamian Movement for Democratic Culture and Art in Europe (TEV-ÇAND) released the final resolution of its fourth conference which took place in the German city of Düsseldorf on 11-12 May and saw the participation of delegates and guests from various countries.

The final declaration pointed out that the conference had been organized in the process of the "democratic political struggle" Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan initiated on 21 March, in Newroz in Amed. “The conference handled the duties to be fulfilled in the areas of culture and art within the process of the construction of democratic liberation and free life. Deficiencies in these fields were determined and decisions were made as to what needs to be done in the coming period”, it said .

Underlining that “the cultural values of a society are sacred and are aimed to reach the truth”, the declaration said that the dominant system of today however aims to commodify these sacred values and offers instead a life without conscience, moral and sense of community. It said that the popular culture targeted the sacred values of societies and therefore meant a cultural massacre. “Tev-Çand activities are based on being organized against the consumption of cultural and moral values by the capitalist modernity that imposes policies of massacre on our culture and art”, it said.

The declaration remarked that laborers of Tev-Çand had a significant responsibility in building a democratic, ecologic and gender-equalitarian system, enlightening the society against negative effects of the dominant system as well as defending, protecting and improving the folk art.

It noted that “in the conference, all artists have been called on to take place in the councils for culture and art and to refuse to stand by other artists who have no relation and connection with the public and fail to fulfill their responsibilities for the people”.

The final declaration of the conference pointed out that artists in the fields of culture and art are a part of the people's struggle, and that the Kurdish cultural and artistic associations have been established in line with the aims and needs of the Kurdish struggle. It said that “Artists are responsible for keeping our values alive in the face of the cultural massacre, and dressing the mentality and conscience of the society with social sacred values. This is the reason why the relationship between associations and artists is grounded on principles, organization and labor”.

It also noted that Kurdish artists should see it as a responsibility to perform works aimed at handing down the struggle given by the Kurdish leader, fighters and people to the next generations. “Our leader and our martyrs, thanks to whom the Kurdish people have come to these days, are what we need to put the primary emphasis on”, it underlined.

The declaration said the conference also laid stress on deficiencies in the Kurdish theater and cinema and ended with a decision to improve the present works and organizations in these fields.

Calling for participation in the process of the construction of a free life, the declaration said that “it was decided in the conference to ensure a stance siding with communal values of democratic modernity against the perspective of the capitalist modernity that Kurdish culture and art is facing today. The European Tev-Çand Council which has been formed in the conference, consisting of 21 members, will be representing the cultural-artistic councils and organizations across Europe. This is at the same time a step by our artists aimed at serving the construction of democratic liberation and a free life led by our leader and people who have been struggling for 40 years now”.

The declaration ended by calling on all workers of Kurdish culture and art to join the artists' movement for the construction of a free life.