Representatives of Tamil political parties and civil society and diaspora groups who met last weekend in Berlin will continue discussions in the coming months, the Global Tamil Forum said this week.
The full text of the statement on behalf of the participating organisations follows:
Tamil political and civil society representatives, and Diaspora groups have convened in Berlin on the 26th & 27th January 2013 for progressive discussions on how to end the Sri Lankan State's continued agenda of destruction of Tamil people’s identity (genocidal), the heightened oppressive conditions, the threat to Tamil's claim of the North and East of the island being their area of historic habitation (homeland) and to achieve consensus on addressing the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people through a negotiated political solution.
This is a continuation of on-going discussions between Tamil groups that first began in November 2012. Representatives from Tamil political parties, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) and Tamil Civil Society from Sri Lanka, joined representatives from Diaspora groups International Councils of Eelam Tamils (ICET), Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) and Global Tamil Forum (GTF) in the two rounds of dialogue.
These discussions will continue and progress with wider participation to bring together more Tamil and Tamil speaking people’s organisations in the months to come.