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From August 7-8, the 4th Regular General Assembly of the Democratic Society Congress took place in Amed, Northern Kurdistan. Before the Assembly, several members of the DTK have been detained, which was condemned by the speakers. Among the prisoners is also the Co-Chair of the DTK, Hatip Dicle.{divide}
During the two days of lively debate, 800 delegates, among them the two Co-Chairs of the BDP Selahattin Demirtas and Gultan Kisanak, other MPs of the BDP, the mayor of Diyarbakir Osman Baydemir, politically banned Co-Chairs Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk as well as Leyla Zana, representatives of the Turkish Peace Assembly, the ESP and also representatives of democratic mass organisations were present there.
Among the most important topics of discussion was the "Democratic Autonomy". At the Congress it was stated that this idea has four pillars, which are Democratic Nation, Democratic Country, Democratic Republic and Democratic Constitution and that it aims at a mutual life of various identities, cultures and faiths.
However, the General Assembly underlined at the same time the fact that autonomy is neither a step on the way to independence nor an extension of the state on a local level by saying "Autonomy does not include an independent state or sharing the power. It is based on the formulary of "state plus democracy".
Another topic of the Assembly was the struggle against the present constitution of Turkey, which is still the constitution of the military coup of September 12. It was underlined that they will struggle for a democratic constitution. In the final declaration it says that the Congress believes that saying "yes" or "no" to a packet of changes on the constitution of the regime of September 12 will not solve anything but that this constitution has to be abolished as a whole. They underlined their position of boycotting the referendum on the constitution, which will take place on September 12 this year.
The assembly elected Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk as Co-Chairs of the DTK.
The head of the Kurdistan Democratic Confederalism ( KCK ) executive board Murat Karayılan also supported the idea of Democratic Autonomy saying in an interview given to the news agency ANF: "Democratic Autonomy is the only way to solve the problem." Moreover, he added that they will propose the three suggestions made by the imprisoned national Kurdish Leader Abdullah Ocalan last week and if the state rejects them and insist on war then they will use their own dynamics and power to realise autonomy.
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