‘Democratic Self-governing Regions’ Conclusion by DTK

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Democratic Society Congress (DTK) which assembled on December 26 with the extraordinary agenda ended on Sunday.

The congress had assembled an emergency meeting due to the issue of ditches, curfews, operations, civilian deaths and armed conflicts and has issued its conclusions in a declaration.

DTK Co-Chiefs Selma Irmak and Hatip Dicle have presented the declaration titled “Political Solution Declaration Regarding Self-government” in Kurdish and Turkish.

In the declaration, it has been recommended to form “democratic autonomous regions” as a solution.

DTK Co-Chairs Hatip Dicle and Selma Irmak, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chairs Emine Ayna and Kamuran Yüksek, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, HDP Co-Spokespersons Ertuğrul Kürkçü and Sebahat Tuncel, Labour Party (EMEP) Chairperson Selma Gürkan as well as representatives from various NGOs and political parties have attended the congress.

The declaration consists of the following 14 articles:

14 articles of the declaration:

1. Taking cultural, economic and geographic familiarities across the country into consideration  and thus forming democratic autonomous regions including one or several neighbouring provinces;

2. Governing all these autonomous regions and provinces by parliaments elected on the basis of democratic principles and by self-governance organs elected out of parliaments within the scope of the fundamental principles of Turkey’s new democratic Constitution and representation of the public’s will in these autonomous regions also in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and the centralized administration on the basis of democratic principles;

Ending the tutelage of centralized administration

3. Terminating all sorts of tutelage of centralized administration in democratic autonomous regions and other administrative units upon the elected and revoking its authorization of dismissing the elected; terminating all sort of centralized administration’s tutelage upon regional and local governments except the supervision of its organs concerning their compliance with the principles of the new democratic Constitution;  

4. Providing direct-participation of province, neighbourhood, village, women and youth councils as well as councils of different peoples and belief communities and NGOs in the decision-making and supervision process in democratic regions and provinces;

Right of equal representation for women

5. Recognizing the equal representation of women in all decision-making mechanisms and on all levels of self-governance with regards to deepening, diversifying the democracy and ensuring a free and democratic existence; the ability to create parliaments, communes and communal organizations with regards to the needs of women; making all decisions concerning women and women’s organizations require an the approval by women councils; recognition of free and autonomous women’s organizations in all areas;

6. Participation of the youth in decision-making mechanisms and self-governance organs; ensuring individual youth organizations and participation of the youth in decision-making mechanisms with its genuine identity.

Education in mother tongue

7. Leaving education at all stages to self-governments, including all mother tongues in education alongside Turkish. Accepting local languages as official in addition to Turkish.

8. Being able to do research on areas of language, history and culture. Besides, making sure that the institutions giving belief and divine service to be organized as autonomous institutions.

Health, jurisdiction and law services

9. To be able to provide health and treatment services on all levels by self-governments.

10. Re-organizing judiciary system and law services based on self-government model.

11. Granting self-government the authority to run and inspect soil, water and energy sources within ecological frame. Self-governments to have authorization to form production and business units without contradicting constitutional principles in every sector including agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, and to support and promote such social and individual enterprises.

12. To render and inspect services of all sorts of land, air, sea transportations within the self-government territory. To run traffic services by local administration units in coherence with central traffic institutes.

Local security

13. In order to provide aforementioned services, budget to be transferred to self-government and base it on woman oriented budgeting; to collect some taxes by self-government units based on agreements reached by center and other locals and equitable principles. To pay share from tax incomes collected by the center to locals. For the center to take necessary precautions to eliminate difference in development among regions.

14.  To form official local security units to maintain order in local under the governance of self-government, and have these units work in coordination with central defense and security units established within the frame of Constitutional laws. (HK/DG/TK)