What Özlem spoke about.

1 Feb

2023

DE Speech

Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

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Mr President! The German Foreign Minister has created a new word: Feminist foreign policy. And Mrs. von der Leyen also likes to talk about women's rights. Then I look at Afghanistan. For 20 years, NATO waged a war in Afghanistan to allegedly defend the woman. After 20 years of NATO bombing: How is the woman in Afghanistan? It's worse than ever. Now the Taliban can oppress the population and women …

19 Jan

2023

DE Speech

Revision of the European Works Councils Directive (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, let me say a few words about the right: Here, Ms Bilde illustrated very vividly how she would react if workers' rights were to be strengthened. I find this unspeakable when right-wing representatives oppose workers' rights and at the same time act as if they were workers' representatives in the Member States. Colleagues, but now on the subject itse…

17 Jan

2023

DE Speech

Implementation of the common foreign and security policy - annual report 2022 - Implementation of the common security and defence policy - annual report 2022 (debate)

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Mr President! Faster, faster, full force ahead on the way to a military union has been saying since I came here. As if upgrading would mean more security – on the contrary. Massive rearmament increases the risk of wanting to assert interests militarily. That's what Russia does. Worse still, it has been here since Russia's attack on Ukraine in violation of international law. Since then, more weapon…

14 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Tackle the cost of living crisis: increase pay, tax profits, stop speculation (topical debate)

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Madam President, Officially, one in four people in the EU is at risk of poverty. On average, prices rose by 11.5%, but wages did not. In the EU average 3 % real wage loss. So today we can talk about poverty despite work, child poverty, old-age poverty, homelessness and horrendously high rents. But we can also talk about the downside, about the super-rich and shareholders. The ten richest EU citize…

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Turkish airstrikes on northern Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (debate)

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. – Mr President. A Christmas song in Germany is ‘Alle Jahre wieder’ and children like to sing it. But then I think of the children in Syria and Rojava. They are currently singing mourning songs, because every year bombs fall on their heads again. Once again, the Erdoğan regime is attacking the Kurds in Iraq and Syria under a pretext. And every year there are only quiet reactions to it from the EU…

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Prospects for the two-State solution for Israel and Palestine (debate)

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Mr President! The silence about the injustice that has been happening to the Palestinians for years and decades is actually deafening. Although we have a solution that provides for a two-state solution, and this decision-making situation has existed for years, we do not see two equal states here, instead we continue to see displacement and suffering for the Palestinians. The settlement policy is b…

22 Nov

2022

DE Speech

Situation in Libya (debate)

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Madam President, "Europe is a garden surrounded by a jungle", Mr Borrell said recently in a speech. He meant that the EU was a garden that had to be protected from the savages of the jungle. But with arms exports, gag and trade agreements, the rulers of the garden have been plundering the predators, the treasures of the African continent, here for decades. In old and new colonial manner, they take…

9 Nov

2022

DE Speech

EU response to the increasing crack-down on protests in Iran (debate)

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Mr President! Historical events are taking place in Iran: A popular uprising, a revolutionary movement that has set out to abandon the old, oppressive and reactionary in order to replace it with something new. How far the new will go is still unclear. Nevertheless, a lot has already been won. It is about self-determination: Women and men in urban and rural areas take to the streets despite martial…

13 Sep

2022

DE Speech

Question Time (VPC/HR) The state of play of the war in Ukraine

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Mr President! Mr Borrell, you said at the beginning: Sooner or later this war will end. I hope that it will end as soon as possible, not only because of the skyrocketing prices for the population worldwide, but above all so that the dying and destruction in Ukraine will stop. But I would like to ask you what you are actually doing to ensure that negotiations take place, that a ceasefire takes plac…

13 Sep

2022

DE Speech

Adequate minimum wages in the European Union (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Poor in spite of work, this is the bitter reality for 25 million workers in the EU. Poor in spite of work means working and still denying the child a lot – in this rich EU, which always boasts of being a haven of prosperity. Prosperity does not apply to everyone. It is the workers who create wealth and prosperity. But more and more people in the EU are working w…

5 Jul

2022

DE Speech

EU initiatives to address the rising cost of living, including the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (debate)

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Mr President! When I was a young student, a professor said: “Capitalism is the end of history. The era of crises and wars is over.” I don't know how many wars and crises I've counted since then. But what I do know for sure is that after each crisis, the gap between rich and poor widened further. The euro crisis, the coronavirus crisis, the war of aggression against Ukraine and the EU’s geopolitica…

6 Jun

2022

DE Speech

The EU and the security challenges in the Indo-Pacific (debate)

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Mr President! What can be said about the EU's Indo-Pacific strategy in one minute, except that developments there are highly dangerous? The surges of militarization that are taking place in the region are blazingly dangerous. The fact that proxy wars are coming to us in this region can already be seen now, because the Asian market is the market of the future. And what we see is that the contradict…

18 May

2022

DE Speech

Prosecution of the opposition and the detention of trade union leaders in Belarus (debate)

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Madam President, In Belarus, workers and trade unions have sabotaged arms supplies and supplies for the Russian war of aggression as a sign against the war. They are now facing massive repression. But it is clear: Workers must have the right to organise in trade unions for their position. This applies to both social and political demands. Repression is unacceptable. But trade union rights are erod…

4 May

2022

DE Speech

The case of Osman Kavala in Turkey

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Mr President! Lifelong for Kavala, that is lifelong for the Gezi protests. The Kavala ruling, like the rulings against Demirtaş and other political prisoners, is arbitrary. But it's not surprising. Polarization and oppression serve to maintain power. When asked whether the verdict will have an aftermath in the Human Rights Court, Erdoğan replied confidently: The thing's gone. But one thing should …

3 May

2022

DE Speech

EU preparedness against cyber-attacks following Russia invasion on Ukraine (debate)

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Mr President! With every technological advance in warfare, the force of destruction increases, and civilization threatens to relapse. A cyber war means that critical infrastructure, hospitals, etc. can be destroyed at the touch of a button. You have to be able to protect yourself against that. But above all, it must be clear that these technologies must not be used for warfare – to prevent uncontr…

23 Mar

2022

DE Speech

Debriefing of the European Council meeting in Paris on 10 March 2022 - Preparation of the European Council meeting 24-25 March 2022 (debate)

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–Mrs President! My solidarity belongs to the people of Ukraine. But the suffering of the Ukrainians is being exploited here for their own geopolitics. The EU is moving towards a military union because the current struggle is democracy versus autocracy. But those who believe this may also believe in Santa Claus. Because militarism always goes hand in hand with the dismantling of liberal democracy. …

15 Feb

2022

DE Speech

Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2021 - Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2021 (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Once again, you present an endless wish list for a more offensive military appearance of the EU, from the Indo-Pacific to outer space. Despite Afghanistan, we continue: Mali, Mozambique and the world's oceans. Huge sums of money were decided for rearmament in the shortest possible time. At the same time, there is a lack of hospital capacity. That's why there wer…

15 Feb

2022

DE Speech

EU-Africa relations (debate)

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Madam President, Jean Ziegler once said: ‘It is not a matter of giving more to the people of the Third World, but of stealing less from them.’ He is right. The EU now wants to launch an investment plan, build partnerships in Africa and help people – say you, Mr Borrell. But is that really true? If it were about the people, then you would release the patents for the corona vaccines. Why don't you d…

19 Jan

2022

DE Speech

Situation in Kazakhstan

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Thank you, Mr President, and congratulations on my part! Colleagues! More and more people around the world are unable to make a living. Rising cost of living, energy prices and food prices, the gap between rich and poor is drifting apart, middle classes are eroding – and even more so in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is one of the most important oil and gas exporters in the world. But the ordinary people …

15 Dec

2021

DE Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 16-17 December 2021 - The EU's response to the global resurgence of Covid-19 and the new emerging Covid variants (debate)

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Mr President! Ms. von der Leyen stands here and talks about apparent hybrid threats, but means people on the run. However, it is silent about the real dangers that the population in the European Union has to deal with. With the inadequate health policy, with social upheavals and the ever-widening gap between rich and poor. She speaks tacheles against alleged geopolitical competitors, but is silent…

14 Dec

2021

DE Speech

European framework for employees' participation rights and the revision of the European Works Council Directive (debate)

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Mr President! Dear colleagues! Mr. Guido Reil from the AfD, i.e. right-wingers from Germany, always likes to stage himself as a workers' leader in Germany. But it is precisely here that he opposes co-determination rights and the strengthening of trade unions. I think it's a mockery, and you have to work it out clearly. Especially since the German workers' movement was also the movement that enable…

5 Oct

2021

DE Speech

Implementation report on the EU Trust Funds and the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. You rightly point out in the report that there is a massive lack of control and democratic control and transparency in trust funds. But that is exactly why we have these funds as a shadow budget. Whoever says that we need democratic control, whoever demands it, must reject this instrument in principle, instead of issuing a free pass to the Commission. Let me …

5 Oct

2021

DE Speech

The future of EU-US relations (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen! EU-US relations are contradictory: on the one hand, led by a brutal competition for economic supremacy and on the other hand led by an incredible pragmatism for the assertion of their own interests – also jointly and militarily in need. And that is exactly what we see in the Indo-Pacific strategy of NATO, the US and the EU. The internal contradictions between th…

14 Sep

2021

DE Speech

Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

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Madam President, Mr Borrell! You dodge the real lesson from Afghanistan. Why? In fact, Afghanistan clearly shows: War is not a solution, and the war policy of the West has failed! Democracies are not exported militarily, because war is the brutal continuation of a failed policy. Recently, however, as a lesson from Afghanistan, you personally demanded that the EU upgrade and have a flexible army. B…

6 Jul

2021

DE Speech

The repression of the opposition in Turkey, specifically HDP (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. On March 21, the Constitutional Court of Turkey accepted a ban lawsuit against the second-largest opposition party HDP. Mr. Borrell, you just said you were worried about that decision. But on the same day, on 21 June, Mrs von der Leyen, our Commission President, tweeted: “Good conversation with President Erdoğan ahead of EUCO Thursday. We discussed the state …