Abant Platform Convenes to Discuss Democratization
The Abant Platform, a renowned discussion forum that deals with challenging issues in Turkey, is holding a meeting on democratization in Turkey, scheduled to take place today and tomorrow at the Abant Palace hotel in Abant, northwest Turkey.
Supported by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), a civic organization championing the principles of diversity, multiculturalism and dialogue, the meeting will bring together scholars, writers, intellectuals and community leaders, who will brainstorm on the subject of "Democratization: Political Parties from 12 September to the European Union."
At its 19th meeting today, the forum will host Egemen Bağiş, state minister for EU affairs and chief EU negotiator; Emine Bozkurt, a member of the European Parliament; Reha Çamuroğlu, a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İstanbul deputy and the party's pioneer in Alevi outreach; and constitutional expert Ergun Özbudun, who will discuss the issue in terms of the contemporary juridical framework.
The session will start with a speech by Levent Köker, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Abant Platform. After being opened by Mustafa Şentop, associate professor of law at Marmara University, the session will turn to Özbudun, who will be joined by Seyfettin Gürsel, director of the Bahçeşehir University Center for Economic and Social Research (BETAM) in İstanbul, to discuss the electoral system in Turkey. Professor and columnist Şahin Alpay will discuss democracy within political parties, and Parliamentary Justice Commission Chairman Ahmet İyimaya will talk about financing politics.
In Saturday's session about the "Past," headed by political science Professor Mümtaz'er Türköne, experts Köker and Abant Platform President Mete Tunçay will discuss the modern state and politics and Turkey's transition from the single-party period to the multi-party system, respectively.
In the next session, international relations Professor Fuat Keyman and law Professor Serap Yazici will look into the "Future" of Turkey in the face of the European Union's accession criteria.
To close the session, a statement of conclusion will be released on June 20.
Launched in 1998 with the aim of organizing a platform in which people representing different schools of thoughts could come together and debate problems of common concern in open discussions, the Abant Platform has held more than a dozen workshops discussing a variety of topics concerned with Turkey, including secularism, religion, the EU, the Constitution, education, globalization, social contracts, democracy, modernity, war and peace.
The last Abant Platform meeting, held in February, brought together more than 200 intellectuals from Turkey and Iraq to debate the thorny Kurdish issue in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil at the conference titled "Searching for Peace and a Future Together."
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