Mr. Juan Alfredo Pinto Saavedra
Ambassador of Republic of Colombia to Turkey,
Dear Mr. Saavedra,
We congratulate the peoples of Colombia!
At the end of varied negotiations and agreements, the protracted war between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ended with the FARC surrendering its remaining weapons to UN monitors.
We congratulate the parties to the negotiations who have stood patient, determined and astute against tens of attempts to undermine peace efforts and negotiations.
Of course, the end of active war does not necessarily mean that social and political peace is fully established. What needs to be done in Colombia now is to meticulously construct peace on the basis of justice, equality, and freedoms.
The formal end of war in Colombia that cost more than 260,000 lives has increased the hopes of peoples of the world for peace. We wish the end of this half-a-century-long war to serve as a source of inspiration and courage for all geographies wounded by wars and conflicts, first and foremost Turkey.
Peace requires courage and hard work. Peace becomes possible when governments aim at building it despite all odds and rather than simply seeking to maintain their own rule.
We live in a time when we need peace more than ever before in our lands that have been saturated with blood and tears. We are committed to maintaining our struggle for peace and democracy with great tenacity and seriousness. We believe that our determined position in and for democratic politics will eventually meet the aspirations and expectations of all peoples and faiths for a fair peace in our country.
Serpil Kemalbay & Selahattin Demirtaş
Peoples’ Democratic Party Co-Chairs
18 August 2017