AMED – Speaking at the “Labour in Democratic Society Workshop” held in Amed (Diyarbakır), People’s Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Co-deputy Chair Sevtap Aktag said: “We need to be builders of an equal and free life, not watchers.”

 

"Labour in Democratic Society Workshop" was organised by the Platform of Democratic Institutions in Amed. Representatives of political parties and civil society organisations attended the workshop held at Çand Amed Congress Centre. Duygu Özbay, co-chair of Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim Sen) Amed Branch No 2, made the opening speech on behalf of the platform.

 

Duygu Ozbay stated that the peoples of the Middle East have not only been in conflict throughout history, but have also carried a culture of complementarity, understanding each other and co-existence and said: “However, this culture has been suppressed, obscured and isolated by the intervention of powers structures, nation-states, capitalist modernity and monist ideologies. Peoples were cut off from the slippery, immanent and symbiotic ties among themselves and imprisoned in hierarchical and confrontational planes. All values belonging to societies have been destroyed.”

 

DEMAND FOR EQUAL AND COMMON LIFE

 

Emphasising the importance of democratic society, Duygu Ozbay concluded: "Democratic and peaceful society is a systemic, social coexistence model with an ideological and philosophical paradigm in which all differences can live together freely on the basis of equal citizenship, free from domination and hierarchy, as well as having the power to save the peoples from extinction together with all their social values in the event of an escalation of World War 3.  Therefore, the solution of the Kurdish issue does not only mean the liberation of the Kurdish people; it also becomes the key to the democratisation of Turkey, the restoration of the historical friendship of the peoples of the Middle East and the construction of a just future for humanity."

 

HISTORICAL PROCESS

 

Then Sevtap Akdag said: “We are going through a historical process in this geography. This reality has been recognised by the regional powers. We see this promising process as the gain of the peoples and the construction of democracy. It is the duty of all of us to realise the construction of a democratic society. 

Sevtap Akdağ stated that they will form the struggle line of the process with the discussions to be held and said, "We need to be the builders of an equal and free life, not the watchers."

 

After the speeches, the workshop continued closed to the press and the topics of “Discussions on labour”, “The role and transformation of labour in the transition to peace and permanent peace experiences”, “Women’s labour and poverty” and “Reflection of labour exploitation on disadvantaged groups” will be discussed.