Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
Open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to think again on the planned
World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul
We learn with disbelief that the first World Humanitarian Summit will be hosted by President Erdogan in
Istanbul.*)
Of all locations where such an international event could be held, Turkey, at the present time, is the least
suitable.
The world is currently facing a humanitarian crisis on a massive scale. With that sentiment we
wholeheartedly concur. Action needs to be taken at an international level to foster peace, reduce
conflict and ameliorate the social divisions that are literally tearing countries apart.
As the preamble to the coming UN summit states, “In our rapidly changing world, we must continually
seek better ways to meet the needs of millions of people affected by conflicts and disasters.”
The conflict that has been unfolding in Turkey’s southeast over the past few months is one such conflict
that needs to be urgently resolved. It is precisely because the Turkish government has turned to an
unwinnable military solution to the Kurdish conflict that a humanitarian disaster is now looming in many
parts of the southeast. This ongoing conflict makes the location of the forthcoming UN Humanitarian
Summit in Istanbul wholly inappropriate.
The government headed by President Erdogan has consciously exacerbated a conflict with its Kurdish
minority population since the result of last year’s first national election which saw the pro-Kurdish HDP
achieve a dramatic breakthrough that denied the AKP its majority.
People are currently being slaughtered as a result of a malign state policy that is fanning sectarian
conflicts and deepening social tensions. Peace-making has been taken off the agenda in Turkey and the
whole country is suffering the consequences. It is therefore very hard to see how the government in
Ankara deserves to be rewarded by the honour of hosting such an important international initiative.
One of the main themes of the planned summit is to be, “Serving the needs of people in conflict", which
surely renders it utterly inappropriate for Turkey to be hosting the event, given the current
humanitarian disaster taking place in cities across the country’s southeast which have been subjected to
curfew, bombardment and deliberate destruction by Turkish state forces.
This important and timely initiative by the UN Secretary-General set to take place on 23 and 24 May
2016 will bring together governments, humanitarian organisations, representatives of peoples affected
by humanitarian crises and others to develop solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges and set
an agenda for future humanitarian action.
The Kurdish people are desperate for such action to resolve their plight but the government in Ankara is
making their lives intolerable and destroying their communities.