Dear members,
Dear friends,
We are pleased to publish our current newsletter.
+++ Board meetings
This quarter’s board meetings were hold on 14 January and 11 March 2018.
+++ Conference of experts
The conference was organised in cooperation with Volkshochschule Cologne and Civaka Azad – Kurdish Center for public relations. Political scientist Prof. Dr. Heinemann Grüder, political scientist Mahir Tokatli (University of Bonn), sociologist Dilar Dirik (University of Cambridge), journalist Ulrich Tilgner, politician and member of Kurdistan National Congress Exekutive Committee Adem Uzun, co-chair of Human Rights Association Eren Keskin and HDP MP and jurist Mithat Sancar discussed on the topic „Kurds in the context of (De-) Escalation“. Moderators were journalist Diana Hodali, political scientist Rosa Burç and our Co-chair Dersim Dağdeviren.
+++ Conference in Frankfurt
Our third conference in the region will take place on 14 April 2018 in Saalbau Bockenheim in Frankfurt. Cooperation partner is the Heinrich Böll Foundation Hessen. The conference is again supported by Civaka Azad – Kurdish Center for public relations and Sebastian Cobler Foundation. Speakers of the conference „Genocides in the Middle East and ways to reconciliation“ were historian Prof. Dr. Mihran Dabag, historian Mehmet Bayrak, historian Michael Knapp, psychologist Prof. Dr. Ian Ilhan Kizilhan and Co-Major of Cizre Leyla Imret.
+++ Excursion
We are invited to a meeting by Kurdish academics from the Netherlands for introduction of our network. Thusly Amsterdam became destination of this year´s excursion from 24 to 25 February. We had a productive meeting with academics who had great interest in our work. Towards summer, we will have a further large meeting.
+++ Closed meeting
Together with some members, we will have a closed meeting on 7 and 8 April. There are new project ideas we have to work on. Therefore the closed meeting became fixed part of our annual programme. The honorary award is one example of efficiency of the meeting.
+++ Networking with other Kurdish academic organizations
Due to the decisions of our European network meeting we hold meetings with the Kurdish Institute Germany and Association of Kurdish Teachers in Europe.
We also had a network meeting with Kurdish academic organizations working on juridical issues.
On the suggestion of Association for Democracy and International Law a conference of jurists from Kurdistan in Europe will took place on 9 June 2018 in Cologne.
+++ Rojava Universität
A first contact to Rojava University is established. Currently 500 persons are studying at university, free of charge and exams, chemistry, petro-chemistry, literature and language, art, agriculture, education and jineology. In spring the next 500 students will start at University. The university will organize a workshop about the role of universities in establishing a democratic nation. We were asked to take a stand from the European position and to determine models of alternative universities. Thanks to the support of some Kurdish scientist in Germany we responded to the request. Regarding to the support of the Rojava University we hold talks to stuff of Cardiff University in GB. We will broaden the dialogue.
+++ Afrin
We have positioned us against the attacks of Turkish state on Afrin which are contrary to international law and had some talks on the issue with politicians from NRW state parliament. We also participated in the meeting of Kurdistan National Congress where dozens of Kurdish political parties and organizations positioned against the war in Afrin.
You are invited to become a member and an acitivist of our network.
Executive Board