vendredi 2 octobre 2009

ITF EU REPRESENTATIVE ATTENDED A CONFERENCE AT THE EU PARLIAMENT IN BRUSSELS

MEP Edward McMILLAN-SCOTT, Vice President of EU Parliament and Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, ITF EU Representative
With Mr. Isa DOLKUN, EU Representative of the Uyghurs

With MEP Graham WATSON




Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, ITF EU Representative and Mrs Merry FITZGERALD of the Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmen Rights in Belgium received invitations from several Members of the European Parliament and from the Director of the Brussels based association “HUMAN RIGHTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS” Mr. Willy FAUTRE to attend a conference on the Human Rights in China at the European Parliament in Brussels on 30th September 2009.

The conference was held on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China to analyse China’s performance in the field of Human rights and Freedoms for civil society. It was held under the title:

60 Years of Democracy in China
(seen by Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong, Human Rights Defenders)

The conference was organised at the initiative of some Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) with the participation of the Director of the Human Rights without Frontiers association in Brussels namely:-

Mr. Edward McMILLAN-SCOTT, MEP and Vice-President of EU Parliament
Mr Graham WATSON, MEP and Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe)

Mr. Thomas MANN, MEP and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (Group of the European People’s Party)
Mrs. Eva LICHTENBERGER, MEP and Vice-Chairwoman (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance)

Mr. Willy FAUTRE, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers

Representatives from three Chinese communities in Europe and the Director of Human Rights without Frontiers were invited to the conference to share the panel with the MEPs and to address the conference. These Representatives were :-

Mr. Isa Dolkun, EU Representative of the Uyghurs & Secretary General of the World Uyghur Congress.

Mr. Tashi Wangdi, EU Representative of the Dalai Lama.

Mr. Man-Yan Ng, EU Representative of the Falun Gong Association.

Mr. Paolo Barabesi, Assistant to the Director of Human Rights without Frontiers, read Mr. Willy Fautré’s speech.

The organisers of the conference and their guest speakers addressed the conference, they described the political situation in China since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and they criticized the Chinese authorities for the lack of real democracy in China and for the intolerable violations of human rights against the Chinese people in general and against the Uyghur and Tibetan communities in particular.

Each guest speaker presented a written statement in which they explained the actual situation and living conditions of their community in China. They all denounced the Chinese authorities’ intolerances and dictatorship, accusing the Chinese regime of brutal human rights violation against the Uyghurs, the Tibetans and the Falun Gong practitioners.

After the conference Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, ITF EU Representative, established contact with the MEPs who had organised the conference and he presented the Iraqi Turkmens cause to them, describing the Turkmen reality in Iraq and updating them on the current difficult political situation, hard economical conditions, troubled cultural environment and unsafe living conditions imposed on the Iraqi Turkmens since decades.

He emphasized the deterioration of the situation for the Turkmens in Iraq, politically, economically and socially, especially after the regime change in April 2003. He explained how Turkmens continue to suffer from countless human rights violations as a consequence of an institutionalised discrimination policy applied against the Turkmens since the creation of the Iraqi State in 1921 and since the adoption of the “New Iraqi Constitution” which was concocted in a rush by a bunch of inexperienced, ethnically motivated and power thirsty ‘new Iraqi politicians’ under US occupation. Indeed, the new Iraqi constitution is terribly backward as it clearly discriminates between the Iraqi citizens according to their ethnic origin. The Arabs and Kurds are classified as ‘first class citizens’ and the country’s main landlords and share holders, while the Turkmens, the Chaldeo-Assyrians, the Shabaks, the Yezidis and other minority groups are considered as ‘second class citizens’.

Dr. H. AYDINLI stressed the fact that this ‘new constitution’ contains some terminology and notions unheard of in any constitution before, such as ‘Contested Territories’ and ‘Disputed border lines’ within the same country!!! and the infamous article 140 concerning Kerkuk. He also pointed out that the new constitution includes several controversial articles, which if they are maintained in the constitution will ultimately divide Iraq in two regions, a Kurdish region in the north and an Arabic region in the south, thus denying the Turkmens who are the third main ethnic component of the Iraqi people the right to have their own region (Turkmeneli). This would lead to more instability in Iraq and in the region.

Dr. H. AYDINLI urged the MEPs:
- to support the Turkmens’ just cause
- to follow closely the evolution of the political process in Iraq
- to monitor the upcoming general election in January 2010.

ITF EU representative had the pleasure to meet again with the Secretary General of the World Uyghur Congress, Mr. Isa DOLKUN, and to reiterate the Iraqi Turkmens’ support to the Uyghur people and their just cause.

Dr. H. AYDINLI also spoke with former MEP F. SCHWALBA-HOTH, analyst and independent political strategist with whom he had already met on another occasion.

He made an interesting new encounter with Count Leonardo Alaeddin CLERICI* (Philosopher and Poet) President of Istituto di Skriptura Brussels-Istanbul.

He also spoke with Brussels based journalist Magda FAHSI of Human Rights-Geneva to whom he gave some examples of the human rights abuses and discriminations to which the Turkmens continue to be exposed in today’s Iraq. Ms. FAHSI is interested to hear more about the Turkmens and she will be in touch.




Notes:
Mrs. Merry FITZGERALD of the Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmens’ Rights took part in the presentation of the Turkmen cause to the MEPs, adding her own arguments.

* L. A.CLERICI organizes conferences and exhibitions from Rome to the United States to explain that Islamic philosophy offers a metaphysical vision of the world, and that philosophy belongs to God and not to man. He is working to merge the synergies of arts, philosophy and technology. His emphasis on sourcing all artistic and philosophical endeavours to the holy Qur’an and God makes it all the more fascinating.

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