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Kurdish Institute of Paris
International Paris Conference
14-15 October 1989
The Kurds : Human Rights and Cultural Identity
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"The tragic fight of the Kurdis people, which has lasted for such a long time, has its origins in the principle right of every population to autodetermination. This is why it is a righteous fight.
I call upon all governments, organisations and citizens of all countries as well as the international organisations to become aware; in their relations with the countries where Kurds live, they should become aware of the real politics conducted by the leaders of these countries and their politics concerning the Kurds. No manifestation of cruelty, no national or social injustice, no inpinging on human rights and no genocide should go unnoticed. Neither should it remain without consequence for those countries allowing these actions."
Andrei SAKHAROV
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EDITOR'S NOTE
On 14th and 15th October 1989, the Kurdish Institute of Paris, supported by the France-Libertés Foundation, organized an International Conference on the theme "The Kurds: human rights and cultural identity", at the Centre of International Conferences at Avenue Kléber. Two hundred and forty personalities and 85 journalists from 32 countries of Eastern and Western Europe, the States, the Near East, North Africa, Asia and Australia participated in this two day conference aimed at appraising the fate of the Kurdish people and considering together ways of heightening international public awareness of the issue.
Amongst the personalities present were: Mrs. Danielle Mitterrand, Elena Bonner, Ann Clwyd, British MP, member of Labour's shadowcabinet, Georgina Dutoix, former Minister of social Affairs and Jeri Laber, director of Helsinki Watch, Mr. Bernard Kouchner, Secretary of State for Humanitarian Action, Hocine Ait-Ahmed, former Algerian Minister, Lord Avebury, President of the British Parliamentary Human Rights Group, Clairborne Pell, President of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the American Senate, Peter Galbraith, Member of the same commission, William Eagleton, Ambassador of the U.S.A., Thomas Hammarberg, former President of Amnesty International and Director of the Save the Children Fund, Professors René-Jean Dupuy, Collège de France, as well as numerous writers, academics, MPs and representatives of human rights' defense organizations. The former Austrian Chancellor, Brono Krelsky and the Soviet academician Andrei Sakharov who, due to ill health, were unable to come to Paris, sent messages of solidarity. Mrs. Catherine Lalumière, Secretary-General of the European Committee, and Messages Willy Brandt, Edwerd Kennedy, Giovanni Spadolini, President of the Italian Senate, joined in sending messages of sympathy to the conference.
As regards Kurds, as well as independent personalities, all the political factions of Kurdistan and the main organizations of the Diaspora were represented, mainly by their most senilor members. In defiance of their party, which had strictly forbiden them to come to Paris, 8 Kurdish MPs from Turkey came to attend the conference and one of them, Ibrabim Aksoy,
deputy of Malatya, presented the current situation of the Kurds in Turkey. Also, the USSR authorized, for the first time, a delegation of Soviet Kurds led by the academician, Nadir Nadirov, to take part in a Pan-Kurdish meeting....
Kurdish Institute of Paris
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