Peace, Amity and Democracy Award from Diyarbakır to Turkish Medical Association

Diyarbakır Medical Association gives “Peace, Amity and Democracy Award” each year. This year, Turkish Medical Association’s Central Council, which made a statement against military intervention in Afrin, received the award.  

22 March 2018, Reha Ruhavioğlu

Turkish Medical Association’s Central Council published a notice against military intervention in Afrin with a headline “War is a Matter of Public Health”. After the statement in January, council members were taken into custody right away.  Juries in Diyarbakır Medical Association decided to give their annual Peace, Amity and Democracy Award to TMA’s Central Council due to their statement about Afrin.

Before the ceremony, President of TMA’s Central Council Prof. Raşit Tükel and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey’s board member Prof. Ümit Biçer attended a panel called “Defending the Right to Life as an Occupational Organization”. Ümit Biçer said in his speech: “We have to transfer our hope to the future generations, because we stand together and insist on peace no matter what the circumstances are. We have to be the witnesses of this dark period.”

Postscript: Mehmet Şerif Demir, President of Diyarbakır Medical Association, had been taken into custody before this news was published. He was among the political parties and CSO representatives that made a statement against military intervention in Afrin and called for the end of the intervention in line with the UN’s demand for ceasefire.