The BRussells Tribunal and several partner organisations have organised a peace prize, the “BRussells Awards for Resistance and Solidarity”.
The prize for resistance goes to Uday al Zaidi, a leading organizer of the Arab spring in Iraq, and the prize for solidarity to Ayse Berktay, one of the pivotal founders of the World Tribunal on Iraq . See the newsletter underneath for more info. You can greatly contribute to the success of this event, by helping us turning it into an instrument for action! We call upon all of you!
* Please, send or e-mail a letter to the Turkish ambassador in your country (you can add our press release in one of the five languages of our newsletter – a Turkish translation will be on our website soon!) with the request to set Ayse free so see can come and collect the prize (is not impossible as professor Ersanli and published Ragip Zarakolu were released – but still on trial). Please do it now. You can also make a local petition and hand it over to the ambassador. But an open letter that you publish is a good option too. You can do it as an organisation or even as an individual. If ambassadors of all the countries receive the request it will make an impression, be sure. Please cc us, so we can keep track and document it on our website!
* In your letter you can refer to the fact that the award has gotten some attention already in the Turkish press. Here are the links:
http://www.imc-tv.com/haber-politik-mahpus-ayse-berktaya-brussells-dayanisma-odulu-verildi-6573.html
and http://www.bianet.org/bianet/ifade-ozgurlugu/143931-ayse-berktaya-dayanisma-odulu,
(please check our website for updates on this).
* Send photo’s of Ayse Berktay speaking at your session of the WTI or another activity, with place and date if possible, so we can make an album on our website. But it is more than just a family album, as her travels are held against her as illegal activities. It is also a protest against the complete ridicule of this accusation.
* Post us a message we can can post on our website and/or read during the ceremony on March 19 th. With felicitations, or a memory of Ayse, some we might already post on the website.
* Send her a letter to congratulate her, and send us a copy. It will make her so happy and give her courage to face her ordeal. She is one of us, and she is now almost one year and a half in jail.
Ayse Hacımirzaoglu
Bakirkoy Kadin Kapali Cezaevi
Kogus B-5
Zuhuratbaba, Bakirkoy
Istanbul/Turkey
* For Uday Al Zaidi, our other award winner, who was arrested on January 21 and set free again – the events have to be monitored (check our website for updates!). Of course here also photos and felicitations we can read or post on the website are more than welcome.
* If your organisation wants to be listed as an endorser, please send us a logo (see list of endorser logo‘s under this letter – don’t forget to cc Ward Treunen, our coordinator).
* Contribute what you can spare, as an organisation or as an individual. The events commemorating the 10 anniversary of the invasion (for the program see on our website) will cost us a lot, and we are extremely poor (as an organisation I mean). You can support the BRussells Award via a bank transfer to the BRussells Tribunal. Our account number is: 132-5251479-37 (IBAN: BE35 1325 2514 7937 – BIC: BNAGBEBB) Reference: “the BRussells Awards”. You can also contribute via paypal. Just click here – Reference: “the BRussells Awards”
Thank you very much!
In solidarity
Lieven De Cauter
Ward Treunen
Dirk Adriaensens
For the BRussells Tribunal
