The representative of SORTU Gorka Elejabarrieta participated in the conference "Sharing Experiences in the Construction of World Peace" which took place this past June 8th in Istanbul.
The representative for international relations of SORTU began his intervention by explaining the current state of the of the resolution process of the conflict in the Basque Country. Next he spoke of the recommendations of the Social Forum and of the necessity for all of the political, social and institutional agents to respond in a constructive manner and implicate themselves in the necessary dialogue to reach an integral resolution to the conflict and an a new political scenario that respects the right to decide of the Basque people. He pointed out the importance of seeking an agreement that includes all those questions related to the consequences of the conflict; freedom of political prisoners, disarming, victims, etc. He ended his intervention denouncing the resistance to change from the Spanish state, which is trying to sabotage any advance towards political and democratic normalization in the Basque Country.
In the conference you could also hear the experiences of other resolution processes. The Deputy of Sinn Fein in Westminster Pat Doherty explained the details of the Irish process and the importance that the Good Friday Agreement had. The South African judge Essa Moosa, lawyer for Nelson Mandela and promoter of the international initiative in favour of the rights of Basque political prisoners "On the path to peace, respect prisoners' rights" stressed the role of Mandela as a forerunner in the dialogue process at a time when he was still a political prisoner and compared that situation with Abdullah Ocalan. The Tamil representative Thiruchchoti Thirukulasingam, spoke about the reasons that led to the failure of the peace process between Tamils and Sri Lanka; and of the ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka. The representatives of the FARC in the dialogue process that they are celebrating in Havana sent their intervention through a video in which they saluted the event and desired the best of luck to the processes being treated at the conference.
The conference was organized by the Human Rights Association of Turkey and was held at the Taksim Hill hotel in the same plaza of Taksim where from a few days ago thousands of citizens demanded substantial reforms in the Turkish political system.
During the two days that the representative from Sortu was in Istanbul he held meetings with a great number of organizations in the protest of Taksim and Gezi Park. We have had the possibility to know first-hand the real situation in Turkey and the demands of the movement. Sortu has given them their solidarity and support.