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Two goals were focused for this conference, the history and concerns of the Iraqi Turkmen, for the first session \u201csources of conflict\u201d, and \u201cAn <\/SPAN> During the two days, Assembled press, Parliamentarians, European leaders, and civil society activists, took part at the round table conference: Marco Cappato MEP<\/B>, Committee on<\/I> Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Human Rights, <\/SPAN><\/I>Marco Pannella MEP<\/SPAN><\/B>, Leader Nonviolent Radical Party, <\/I>Jan Marinus Wiersma MEP<\/B>, Vice-Chairman of the Socialist Group,<\/I> Nicola Dell\u2019Arciprete<\/B>, Parliamentary Assistant ALDE Group,<\/I> Marino Busdachin<\/B>, UNPO General Secretary, <\/I>Ken Kostyo<\/B>, Director of Global Democracy Resource, <\/I>Martin Schulthes<\/B>, Special Programs Manager, No Peace without Justice. Many prominent figures from the Turkmen community were in attendance, both from Iraq and the Diaspora, such as Muzaffer Arslan, <\/B>Advisor on Turkmen Affairs to President Jalal Talabani, <\/I>Ali Mehdi<\/B>, Head of the Turkmen Group at the Kerkuk City Council, <\/I>Sheth Jerjis<\/B>, SOITM Chairman, <\/I>Merry Fitzgerald<\/B>, Secretary of the Representative of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Belgium, <\/I>Dr. Hassan Aydinli, <\/B>Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe representative<\/I> and many other Turkmen authors and editors. <\/SPAN> The Iraqi Arabs were represented by a member of the <\/SPAN> In addition, the courageous participation of Burhan Jaf<\/B>, EU Representative of the Kurdish Regional Government, <\/I>was appreciated by most participants at the conference. The Assyrian delegation composed of Mary Younan<\/B>, Executive Secretary of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA),<\/B><\/I> Ablahad Astepho, Rimon Youkanna <\/B>and Naher Arslan<\/B> from the Assyrian Institute of <\/I><\/SPAN> Mary Younan<\/SPAN><\/B> in the first day session spoke about \u201c<\/SPAN>The Assyrians of Northern Iraq ” and clearly denounced the Arabisation and Kurdification campaigns, violation of human rights and expropriation of lands and villages of the Assyrian people in their ancestral homeland. She added that \u201cabove and beyond all ethnic and religious differences, they were all gathered as Iraqis and it is the duty of each one to ensure that basic human rights of all Iraqis are guaranteed\u201d. <\/SPAN><\/SPAN> Then he asked the<\/SPAN> audience<\/SPAN><\/SPAN> to refer to \u201cthe excellent recent report of Minority Rights Group International 2007 by Preti Taneja, entitled \u201cAssimilation, Exodus and Eradication: <\/I><\/B><\/SPAN> Exposing briefly the <\/SPAN>conflicting aspects of the \u201cbrewing battle over Kerkuk\u201d: oil riches, ethnic competition over its identity between the four main communities- Assyrian, Arab, Kurd and Turkmen, interpretation of articles 140 and 142 of the Iraqi Constitution, controversies over normalisation, census and referendum program, he concluded \u201cthat Kerkuk\u2019s Assyrians don\u2019t enjoy great political influence, mirroring their demographic numbers and political power nationally. But they should have a big and important role in acting as Etat de tampon, <\/I>an intermediary that can play an important role in the process of facilitating a negotiated interim solution for Kerkuk\u2019s question. He continued \u201c we agree and support the International Crisis Group – Middle East Report N\u00b0 56 – 18 July 2006<\/I><\/B>, and we consider <\/I><\/B>that its recommendations to all Sides are a solid basis for a road map consisting of compromised arrangements which may not completely meet the vital interests or agendas of all ethnic and religious groups in Kerkuk, but at the very least it would curb if not put an end to this rapidly deteriorating situation and eventually, contain the potentially violent sectarian conflict and the spreading of civil war\u201d. He asked all participants to look at Kerkuk as \u201ca smaller Iraq where all the components of the Iraqi society meet and contribute progressively to the suppression and\/or solution of possible conflicts, to adopt principles of democracy, citizenship, cohabitation and to build together, as partners, a modern political, economic and social system, on a solid foundation based on dialogue, comprehension and mutual respect\u201d. Considering \u201cthe participation of all ethnic, national and linguistic communities\u2019 in a common federal system will undoubtedly constitute a rich model and serve as a safety-valve for the future of the united federalised and lawful state of Iraq\u201d. Ablahad Astepho <\/SPAN><\/B>in his <\/B>closing statement alarmed the audience \u201c<\/B><\/SPAN>Till Kerkuk\u2019s December 2007 deadline, we can only observe and note the fact that it is over for Yesterday\u2019s <\/SPAN> At the end of the two-day meeting, prior to the press conference, a few participants attempted to open Kerkuk\u2019s Pandora\u2019s Box, thankfully the atmosphere of courtesy continued and this was appreciated and highlighted during the press conference. The organizers of this conference, UNPO and SOITM, recommended an EU-appointed commission to continue dialogue and discussions started at this conference, aiming to securing a sustainable solution and preventing further conflict and confrontation. <\/SPAN><\/P> <\/SPAN> <\/P> <\/SPAN> <\/P> <\/SPAN> <\/P> <\/SPAN> <\/P> <\/SPAN> <\/P> ADO Mtakasta – Brussels: On 26 and 27 March 2007, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and the Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation (SOITM), in partnership with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the Nonviolent Radical Party (NRP), organized a conference entitled \u201cIraqi Turkmen: The Human Rights Situation and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-assyrian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/SPAN>Ablahad Astepho, <\/SPAN><\/B>Director of ASINE<\/SPAN><\/I>, <\/SPAN><\/B>in his contribution during the following session <\/B><\/SPAN>expressed the \u201cdeep concern and growing alarm of the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Communities in the Diaspora at the rapidly deteriorating situation of the ethnic and religious minorities in <\/SPAN>
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