April 14-15 , 2012 – Bursa

Location: Atatürk Congress Culture Centre (ACCC), MERINOS

***

Saturday

10:00- 10:30 Welcoming Remarks

10:30-11:30 Key Note Speech by Abdallah Tourkmani  (Spokesperson for the SNC)

11:45 –13:30 Panel 1: Qua Vadis Syria? A Stalemate or Revolution on Progress?

Speakers:

Alan Hassaf (Free University Youth), Abdula Abazed, (Damascus Network), Rana Nissam (Syrian Local Coordination)

Moderator:

Orhan Miroğlu (Columnist – Taraf)

14:30-16:00 Panel 2: New Turkey in the New Middle East

Prof. Dr. Bülent Aras (President of DiplomacyAcademy, Foreign Ministry), Prof. Dr. Tayyar  Arı (Uludag University), Akın Özçer (Former Diplomat, Columnist – Taraf Daily)

Moderator:

Ceren Kenar (Nahda Network)

16:15-17:45 Panel 3:  Turkey’s Approach towards Arab Revolutions

Speakers:

Cengiz Çandar (Journalist, Radikal), Soli Özel (Columnist-Academic, Habertürk, Kadir Has University),  Abdülhamit Bilici (Jounalist, Zaman Daily), Dr. Şaban Kardaş (TOBB University)

Moderator:

Fatih Demirci (Nahda Network)

18:00-19:00 Panel 4:  Turkish Democracy at Stake: Opportunities and Challenges

Speakers

Ufuk Uras (Former Deputy),  Orhan Kemal Cengiz (Human Rights Activist, Journalist- Radikal)

Moderator:  Beytullah Aksoy (Nahda Network)

Sunday

10:30-11:30 Panel 5: Turkish Public Opinion and the Syrian Revolution

Speakers: Bilal Macit (The Youngest MP of Turkey, AKP), Bülent Şahin (Journalist, Milat Daily), Mustafa Selçuk (Journalist, TV Host- Türkiye Daily, TGRTHaber)

Moderator:

Sevgi Baysal (Nahda Network)

11:45 –13:15 Panel 6: Syria at the Tipping Point: Voices of Syrian people

Speakers: Syrian Refuges inTurkey

Moderator:

Mehmet Algan (Nahda Network)

14:00-15.00 Panel 7:  Democratization of Turkey: Popular Culture, Public Opinion and Art

Speakers:

Zeynep Tanbay (Human Rights Activist, Dancer), Sevan Nişanyan (Linguist, Writer)

Moderator:

Vildan Ay (Sky Türk)

15:15-16.30 Panel 8: Towards a Plural Multi-Cultural Syria: Syrian Christians and Kurds

Speakers:

Jamshid Hussein (Syrian Kurdish Youth Movement), Aryo Edward Mousa (Assyrian Journalist, Human Rights activist), Marcel Temo (Kurdish Future Party), Midia Daghistani (Syrian Activist)

Moderator:

Dr. Ufuk Ulutaş (SETA Foundation)

16:45-18:00 Panel 9: The Spillover Effect of the Syrian Revolution

Speakers:

Hanin Ghaddar (Chief Editor of Now Lebanon), Borzou Daragahi (Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times), Hazem Al-Amin (Lebanese Writer, Journalist, Al-Hayat)

Moderator:

Prof. Dr. Savaş Genç (Fatih University)

———————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Address: Atatürk Kongre Kültür Merkezi, Merinos Parkı, Osmangazi

BURSA / Turkey

NAHDA Network

Contact:  +90.505.4892400

www.facebook.com/NahdaNetwork

www.twitter.com/NahdaNetwork

***

Your bullets are no different from those of Mubarak. And we all know your rule will be no different, either.

We have seen this before: it is the same script with different cast. Yet this time we won’t let you hijack the glorious revolution of the Egyptian youth. You don’t have the right to usurp the Egyptian triumph. You don’t have the right to steal our future. You don’t have the right to kill our optimism. Before January 25, we had the will but we did not know the way. Now we perfectly know how to do it. Do not think that Egyptians are the same as before they toppled Mubarek. You would be mistaken in your thought.

International actors maintain that they won’t “take sides” in the “Egyptian crisis”. It is our pleasure to remind that if you’re arming the party that is committing atrocities and furthermore harassing women sexually, then you’ve pretty much taken sides already. If you remain silent to this massacre, you are on the sides of killers. Loud and clear is that…

It is time again, once again, to stand up for Egypt.

We call all people whose heart beats with their sisters and brothers in Egypt to gather…

Saturday, November 26

13:0o – Bebek Park (Next to the Egyptian Consulate)

Contact: +90 (533) 355-5204

Ali Fakhry, the co-founder and chairman of the Lebanon Anti-racism will not be able to join us because of the brutal attack perpetrated by the pro-Syrian Tashnaks against the headquarters of the movement in the Armenian quarter Bourj Hammod in Beirut. The tension between the tashnaks who oppose the Kurdish refugees settling in Bourj Hammod had instigated violence against the Kurdish refugees in the last weeks. It was reported that Tashnaks threatened Anti-racism Movement to end their support to the Kurdish refugees and immediately levae Bourj Hammod.  Ali Fakhry will join us via Skype. We give our full support to Ali Fakhry and his heroic anti-racism movement and condem this brutal assault.

Our Egyptian participant Aly Hazzaa was detained by the Egyptian army while he was in passport control in the Cairo Airport. This detention was reported to us by Adham Bakry who was on his way to Istanbul with Aly Hazzaa. We can not communicate with  Hazzaa and have no clue why this detention had taken place. We send our support to Hazzaa and hope that he will be free soon.

The Nahda network, which was set up by the Young Civilians to enable young civilian activists of the Middle East to voice their aspirations and contribute to the future of politics in the region, will hold its summit at the Point Hotel in İstanbul’s Taksim Square on Nov. 18-19. Human rights activists, journalists and artists from Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine are set to attend the conference, which kicks off on Friday morning. Among the participants, well-known broadcaster, actor and activist Khaled Abol Naga from Egypt, world famous Middle East specialist Robert Fisk, and Egemen Bağış, the Turkish minister of European affairs and chief EU negotiator, are scheduled to attend. In addition, some of Turkey’s important journalists, among them Mete Çubukçu (NTV) and Bekir Berat Özipek (Star and Zaman), will act as moderators at the summit. Many diplomats and international journalists are expected to follow the conference and simultaneous translations will be available in Turkish, Arabic and English. Ceren Kenar, one of the founders of the network and a leading coordinator of the conference, told Today’s Zaman that through the conference Nahda wants to bring to the fore the stories of activists who were actively engaged in the Arab Spring and who organized peaceful civilian movements to stand up against authoritarian regimes.

“From the beginning we [the Young Civilians] have been closely watching the movements across the region. Three to four months ago, we formed the Nahda [Renaissance-Enlightenment] network, but did not announce it publicly. We decided to bring the activists together to learn about their involvement in the uprisings and as a result of many attempts, the idea of holding a conference in İstanbul came into being,” Kenar said. Claiming that the present and future of the Arab Spring has been debated at length by politicians, experts and academics, but not by the people who engaged in the civilian uprisings, Kenar said, activists will be able to make their opinions known to the world in the upcoming conference.

On speaking about the name “Nahda,” Kenar said it means enlightenment, a renaissance, and has nothing to do with Tunisia’s Ennahda political party.

“The emergence of Nahda dates back to the 19th century, when a new intellectual reawakening swept across the Arab world in the face of colonization, which began to threaten the region,” Kenar asserted, and noted that the Young Civilians consciously chose the concept in defiance of how the West had called the movements across the entire Middle East and North Africa the “Arab Spring,” which was especially prompted by Al Jazeera and Western media.

There are certain Arab intellectuals and others who also do not like the term “spring.” It does not explain the ongoing social transformation beneath the scene, Kenar said. “We need to use the language of the region, its terms. Arab Spring sounds like an oriental description, which depicts the events from a Western point of view.”

The Young Civilians claim they are ordinary civilians trying to bring more democracy to Turkey’s political landscape by standing against any non-civilian intervention in politics with regard to Turkey’s history of military coups d’état and do not accept the hegemony of any group over the people of Turkey.

The Nahda network carries out most of its activities via the Internet and their activities can be followed at www.nahdanetwork.org and their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-262931-arab-spring-activists-to-gather-for-a-conference-in-istanbul.html

The activists say they drew inspiration from 1960s US civil rights demonstrators who campaigned under the same name against segregated buses.

Palestinians from the West Bank are not allowed to cross into Jerusalem without Israeli permission.

Israel says such restrictions are for security reasons.

The group of six protesters gathered at a West Bank bus stop and waited for an Israeli bus to pick them up, then tried to enter Jerusalem, in what appears to be a first.

After being allowed to travel to an Israeli checkpoint at the edge of Jerusalem, the activists were eventually arrested when they refused to leave the bus.

The protesters say that by only serving Jewish settlements and not Palestinian areas in the West Bank, Israeli bus companies discriminate against them.

“These buses and this whole system is discriminatory to Palestinians,” said activist Fadi Quran, as he waited at the bus stop.

The West Bank Freedom Riders punched above their weight, drawing a lot of publicity for what was a relatively small event, reports the BBC’s Jon Donnison in the West Bank.

The comparison to the Freedom Riders of 1960s America seemed to capture the imagination as dozens of journalists gathered to see the small group board the bus, our correspondent says.

In actual fact, this was less a protest about segregation and more about freedom of movement, he adds.

There are around 500,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Settlements are illegal under international law although Israel disputes this.

Source: BBC

Syrian activists say that army defectors have attacked an intelligence complex in the Damascus suburbs in what appears to be one of their boldest assaults so far against government security forces.

Members of the Free Syrian Army fired rockets and machine guns at a large air force intelligence complex situated in Harasta on the northern edge of the capital along the Damascus-Aleppo highway on Wednesday at about 2:30 am (0030 GMT), sources told Reuters.

A gunfight ensued and helicopters circled the area, sources said.

“I heard several explosions, the sound of machine-gun fire being exchanged,” said a resident of the suburb of Harasta, who declined to be named.

There was no immediate report of casualties and the area where the fighting occurred remained inaccessible, the sources said.

Syria’s ban on most foreign media makes it hard to verify events on the ground.

Al Jazeera’s Rula Amin, reporting from neighbouring Lebanon, said: “This is probably not the first attack on security headquarters. But what is significant about this attack is that it is in Damascus, the capital. This shows how much trouble there is for the regime.”

Together with military intelligence, air force intelligence is in charge of preventing dissent within the army. The two divisions have been instrumental in a crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, which the United Nations says has killed at least 3,500 people since March.

Syria’s military is controlled by Assad’s brother, Maher, and members of their minority Alawite sect. But the army is comprised mostly of Sunni Muslims, who also form the majority of Syria’s population and have been defecting from the army in growing numbers.

The latest attack came amid increasing reports of defections among Syrian soldiers deployed by the government to quell the uprising.

Syrian authorities have blamed “armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, which they said killed 1,100 army and police personnel.

Arab meeting boycott

In another development, the Syrian government has decided to boycott Wednesday’s Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting in the Moroccan capital Rabat, which was called to follow up on its decision to suspend Damascus from the bloc.

Syrian state news agency quoted an official in the ministry of foreign affairs as saying: “In light of statements by officials in Morocco, Syria has decided not to participate in the Arab meeting in Rabat.” The agency did not give details.

The Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi said earlier that Syria would be welcome to attend the meeting.

In a rare move among Arab leaders, Jordan’s King Abdullah said earlier this week that Assad should step down in the best interests of the country.

Meanwhile, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, warned Assad on Tuesday that Syria is on a “knife edge”, adding that he no longer had confidence in the Syrian government and that the Syrian president’s actions threatened to place him on a list of leaders who “feed on blood”.

‘Bloodiest day’

On Tuesday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 70 people had been killed in violence across the country in just 24 hours, making it one of the bloodiest days since the uprising began in March.

The rights group said that 27 civilians were shot dead by security forces, and that 34 soldiers and 12 suspected army deserters were killed in clashes.

Most of the victims were killed in the southern flashpoint province of Deraa, the observatory said.

Last week, the UN warned of an increasing risk of a Libyan-style civil war in Syria as defections among the army increased.

Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, said last Wednesday: “Where basic human rights are trampled and peaceful demands for change met by brutal violence, people are eventually compelled to have recourse to rebellion against tyranny and oppression.”

“It happened in Libya, it may happen in Syria,” she told the UN Security Council during a debate on protecting civilians in armed conflict.

Source: Al Jazeera

“I believe if I were in his shoes, I would step down,” King Abdullah said in an interview with the BBC on Monday. “Whenever you exert violence on your own people it’s never going to end well.”

His remarks come amid a looming Arab League ultimatum on Syria to halt the crackdown—which has left some 3,500 people dead, according to the United Nations—or face sanctions and suspension from the 22-nation Arab bloc starting Wednesday.

The European Union announced new measures against Syria on Monday, adding 18 people to its list of sanctions and suspending European Investment Bank support for the country. The measures take effect Tuesday, when the names of the 18 will be published, their assets frozen and they will be barred from entering the EU.

China added to the pressure, calling on Syria to carry out the Arab League proposals. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said China supports the bloc’s “efforts to end the crisis in Syria and has called on concerned parties to implement the Arab League’s resolution at an early date and in a substantial and appropriate way,”

The Arab League voted over the weekend to suspend Syria’s membership and impose sanctions starting Wednesday until Mr. Assad’s regime complies with a League-brokered agreement that calls on him to withdraw his soldiers from major cities, release prisoners and allow international media to report freely from the country

Russia has blocked any U.N. Security Council action against Syria, and its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, Monday condemned Syria’s suspension from the Arab League. But EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton said that after the Arab League’s weekend move, it may be time to try again. Ms. Ashton is meeting Mr. Lavrov on Thursday.

The EU had already imposed sanctions on Mr. Assad and many members of his family, government and the military, as well as an embargo on Syrian crude-oil exports. The full ban on oil exports takes force Wednesday. The EU and the U.S. also called on Mr. Assad to step down over the summer.

King Abdullah said in the interview, “If Bashar has the interest of his country, he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life.”

“I honestly do believe [Mr. Assad] has reform in his blood,” he said, but “If he doesn’t accept the amendments, or expectations, of the Arab League proposal by the 16th, in two days’ time, then definitely we have a major problem with this leadership.

Syria’s foreign minister lashed out at Arab states on Monday, accusing them of conspiring against Damascus with their vote to suspend Syria’s membership in the League.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem called Saturday’s near-unanimous vote at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo “shameful and malicious.”

Source:  The Wall Street Journal

-It will take place on the 18th and 19th of November at 10am. It will last until 7pm on both days.

Who will be speaking at the summit?

-Please follow the link to see the list of the speakers. http://nahdanetwork.org/en/?cat=3

What are the headlines of the summit?

-Please follow the link to see the headlines of the summit. http://nahdanetwork.org/en/?page_id=11

What is the location of the Nahdanetwork summit?

-The summit will take place in Taksim Point Otel. Please follow the link for details. http://nahdanetwork.org/en/?page_id=338

Will there be simultaneous translation?

-Yes, there will be simultaneous translation into Arabic, English and Turkish languages.

Do I need to register for the summit?

-No, it is open to public and you don’t need to register.

For another questions : info@nahdanetwork.org

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf2-EAn3pMM

The uprising which erupted in the Arab world’s poorest country early this year was initially against high levels of unemployment, deteriorating economic conditions and corruption among officials as well as against the government’s proposal to modify Yemen’s constitution. According to the human development index of 2011, Yemen rates the fourth lowest in the Arab world, after Sudan, Djibouti and Mauritania, despite the United Nations Millennium Development efforts to eradicate its poverty.