02/01/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
DEMOS announced that due to state pressure on associations, the economic crisis and lack of resources, it has dissolved the association and will continue its path as a collective.
Research Association for Democracy, Peace and Alternative Policies (DEMOS) announced that it has dissolved its legal entity and will continue its path as a collective. Founded in 2015, the organization, which looks at peace studies from a gender perspective, had also worked in the field of LGBTI+ rights.
In the statement made by DEMOS, the reason for this decision was the increasing state pressure on associations and the economic crisis:
“With increasing audits on associations, the main board members are required to be in Türkiye, preferably in the city where the headquarters of the association is located, and to follow various administrative and financial responsibilities of the association. However, over the years, many of our friends who were regular volunteers of DEMOS have moved out of Ankara or even abroad and participate in the work of DEMOS remotely. In addition to this, with the legal regulations made in 2020, it has become difficult for our friends who are subject to judicial harassment or who are at risk of such harassment to serve on the board of directors. Like many non-governmental organizations, we are having difficulty finding people to serve on the board of directors and supervisory boards. In addition to this, the deepening economic crisis has reduced the amount of membership fees and individual donations, while our search for alternative resources remains fruitless. Due to the fact that our field of work was deemed risky or not prioritized by donor institutions and our determination not to compromise DEMOS' priorities and principles while seeking funding, we received negative responses from many funding applications we made in the past year. Under these conditions, we became unable to meet the obligatory expenses of associations such as rent, accountant and tax.
“When we evaluated all of this, we realized that we were devoting too much of our time and effort to the continuity of our association status, not to social peace, which is the founding purpose of DEMOS. As an organization founded in 2015 while the Resolution Process was ongoing, we reaffirmed that our responsibility is not to ensure the continuity of the association, but to continue the struggle for peace in these days of increasing rights violations and polarization, conflict, war and genocide in both Türkiye and the region, while there is talk of a new peace process on the one hand.
“We, who are organized in DEMOS, have taken this decision because we believe that our contribution to the struggle for peace does not depend on our association status, and that continuing as a collective in the face of shrinking civil space will expand our field of action and enrich our contribution to the struggle. Although giving up our legal entity will limit us in terms of access to resources, we will continue our work with the same enthusiasm with our insistence on our dream of peace and the support of our fellow strugglers in the civil space.
“Until social peace is established, until all identities live in equality, we are here, we are not going anywhere. Stay tuned for the events, podcasts, videos and publications we are planning on peace, confronting the past, memory and civic space in 2025!”
Tags: life
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