Political parties and NGOs in Amed have issued a statement on the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, calling for official recognition of the existence and rights of the Kurdish people in a new constitution. The statement was made jointly by members of various Kurdish political parties and NGOs at the Southeast Journalists Association (GGC) on 24 July 2023.
The statement, read in Kurdish by Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK) General President Bayram Bozyel and in Turkish by Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-President Saliha Aydeniz, rejected the Treaty of Lausanne, which they described as “a dark day that paved the way for a century of denial, rejection, and massacres against the Kurdish people.”
The Turkish Republic, established on 29 October 1923 just three months after the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, “legalised and formalised the denial and rejection of the Kurdish people,” Aydeniz said. She added that “the constitution of 1924 denied the existence, language, and culture of the Kurdish people, introducing a concept of citizenship that considered everyone living in Turkey as Turkish.”
The statement also emphasised that, despite continuous attacks and massacres, the Kurdish struggle for national freedom is ongoing in all four parts of Kurdistan, while highlighting significant gains made in East and North Kurdistan towards national liberation.
The statement called on the Treaty of Lausanne’s signatory states – especially Britain and France – “to apologise to the Kurdish people and support the struggle to overcome the Treaty”. It urged the United Nations, the European Council, the European Union, and other international institutions “to support the Kurdish people’s right to self-determination and their struggle to overcome the constraints of the Treaty of Lausanne.”
The statement concluded with a call to the Turkish state to “replace the rhetoric of brotherhood with the practice of brotherhood law.” It urged a peaceful and democratic resolution of the Kurdish issue and recognition for the existence and rights of the Kurdish people in a new constitution. The statement affirmed “the right of the Kurdish people to live freely and with dignity in their homeland, Kurdistan, which is also a condition for regional peace and stability.”
