Members of the World Traditional Karate-do Federation,

The 2019 is a very eventful year. Unfortunately not all events that occurred this year have led to the improvement and development of Traditional Karate in the world. So far, we have witnessed some harsh disputes about the visions of particular individuals, who are hiding behind lofty words, but in fact consider themselves as the only mentors worthy enough to dictate the moral values that we should all adopt.

Our beautiful martial art, is based on an universal set o values. One of them is “Jinkaku Kansei ni Tsutomuru Koto!” – to seek perfection of character. In our life and in our training, we devote ourselves to this rule. As teachers, instructors, preceptors, trainers and Senseis, we transfer our knowledge not only by words but also by our own attitude and setting an example of treating people around us.

By learning from Sensei Nishiyama, we have adopted standards of kindness, humility, courtesy and etiquette. Our great Sensei, has never showed negative emotions by public humiliation or stigmatization of anyone. Any conflicts that arose in Senseis presence, were resolved within the karate family without any extra participation.

WHAT HAPPENED:
At the beginning of 2019 Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński resigned as president of the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland.
On 6th July, 2019 the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland organized World Cup, approved by General Assembly in Canada (October 25th, 2018). Representatives of Poland, Czech republic, Ukraine, Lithuania, Great Britain participated in this event. Former WTKF president Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński claimed events in Poland  (World Cup, WTKF Summer Camp) as not approved by WTKF.  Poland, Czech republic, Ukraine, Lithuania were “suspended”, except national federation in Great Britain. Members of the WTKF Board of Directors (Mr. Giedrius Dranevicius, Mr. Radek Janus, Mr. Andrzej Maciejewski) were expelled by decision of  Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński and few other directors. Directors are elected by General Assembly, Mr. Kwieciński did not have legal right to do this.

Letters were sent by former General Secretary Mr. Nelson Carrion, signed by former WTKF president Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński.

The accusation of conducting the World Cup 2019 and the Summer Gasshuku 2019 in Poland without the authorization of the WTKF Management Board is false because of the fact that both of those events were the initiative of the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland. The WTKF Management Board took no part in organizing this events and the fact of the WTKF logo being present on those events simply indicated that some competitors are associated in this federation. Apart from the above arguments, the WTKF Management Board has given its authorization for this events on the General Assembly held on 25 October 2018 in St. John’s, Canada. The authorization was recorded in the audio log from the assembly, spoken out by Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński, but has never appeared in the protocol of the assembly due the likely falsification of the protocol wrote by Mr. Nelson Carrion.

The accusation of using the WTKF name and logo without the authorization of the WTKF management board. It should be noted that the rights to the name and logo of the WTKF are owned by the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland. The registration of the WTKF name and logo took place on February 16, 2015. It was made by the former president of the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland – Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński. The registration documents are signed by Mr. Kwieciński and thus he is completely aware of the situation of the trademark, which did not stop him from placing accusations and increasing chaos inside of the WTKF.

The accusation of Mr. Kwieciński of unlawful withdrawal of funds by Mr. Radek Janus – the treasurer of the WTKF. The actions of Mr. Kwieciński (travelling, foods, representation, translation, clothes, jewelry, etc.) were financed by the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland, but were officially recognized as costs of the President’s Office of the WTKF. In the official financial statement from February 5, 2019, concerning the years: 2016, 2017, the short term debt of WTKF to the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland arose to the amount of $89.577,00. Although Mr. Kwieciński has already spent the money and has put the WTKF into debt, he still believes that the amount is due to him and he blames the WTKF treasurer – Mr. Radek Janus for non-payment of the money.

The accusation of violating the rules and regulations of the WTKF. It has to be strongly pointed out that the WTKF, besides of the Statute from October 24, 2014 (signed by Mr. Kwieciński), has no other regulations concerning rules of behaviour of the WTKF members. The Statute itself contains no rules regarding the behaviour of a particular member or rules regarding the grounds of imposing a sanction on a member. Therefore the accusation of baring the rules is false if there are no codified rules at all. But what has to be mentioned, imposing non existing sanctions, and not fulfilling of the regulations of the Statute is in fact a violation of the Statute itself. Therefore the decision of suspension of some WTKF members, imposed by Mr. Kwieciński, was in fact a violation of the WTKF Statute. Mr. Kwieciński had no grounds to impose sanctions, the sanction of suspension is not present in the Statute, the sanction was not confirmed by the General Assembly in accordance with the Statute and the procedure of appeal was not fulfilled. Therefore the sanction is invalid and the decision of imposing of the sanction was a violation of the Statute.

To avoid the accusation of the boycott and not participation in cancelled 34th WTKF European Championship in Moscow, we would like to claim that:

• Mr. Pavel Chernousov (event organizer, ALL-RTKF) was invited to the WTKF Summer camp held in August in Poland to discuss current situation. Unfortunatelly Mr. Chernousov did not accept our invitation.
• After WTKF Summer camp in Poland, WTKT vicepresident Mr. Andrzej Maciejewski was ready to flight to Russia, again to discuss. Unfortunatelly Mr. Chernousov on the request did not send invitation letter, required to get VISA to get in Russia.
• Until last minute before official Extraordinary General Assembly there was effort to support upcoming 34th European Championship in Russia. Lithuanian team was ready to take part in,  Czech team (about 50 team members ) and Polish team (about 80 team members) requested invitation letter to get VISA to support event. Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński responed, but requested conditions were not acceptable and did not meet requirements of the Ministry of Sports.
• Mr. Chernousov was invited to take part in Extraordinary General Assembly in Prague, to find solution. Mr. Chernousov did not participate.

At the Extraordinary  General Assembly  held on 28th September in Prague has been several decision made, related to 34th WTKF European Traditional Karate-do Championships:

• Event in Russia  did not meet european requirements for European Championships.  Participation of athletes under flag of Donetsk People’s republic is not acceptable. The Republic has not been recognised by any state! Ukraine is at war with the DPR and has designated it as a terrorist group. The United Arab Emirates team participation is also not acceptable in the European championship.
•  Top european teams were not invited, because of illegal decisions of Mr. Włodzimierz Kwieciński, supported by organizer Mr. P. Chernousov.
• 34th European Traditional Karate-do Championships in Russia was canceled, instead of this should use name “International Cup”.
• Official 34th European Traditional Karate-do Championships will take place in Czech republic on 9th November, 2019. Event is supported by many european national teams and will meet european requirements for such competition.

As a defence from the false accusations and an attempt of repairing the situation inside of the WTKF, a group of seven countries have convened an Extraordinary General Assembly Meeting of the WTKF members , held on September 28, 2019 in Prague, Czech Republic. The countries that took part were: Czech Republic, Canada, Moldova, Lithuania, Israel, Poland and Ukraine. Together a group of seven countries meet the requirement from art. 7 of the WTKF Statute, stating that an Extraordinary General Assembly has to be convened by a group of one third of active members of the WTKF. In addition the legal requirement from art. 64 B 3 of the Swiss Civil Code – of one-fifth of all the Association members convening an extraordinary general assembly was fulfilled.

In reference to art. 7 of the Statute in fine, all the members of the WTKF were informed in advance of the time and place of the EGAM. The Invitation was issued via mail on 16 August 2019. The agenda was sent to all members on 18 September 2019. Both, the invitation and the agenda, was sent by Mr. Radek Janus, WTKF Board Member and the Treasurer.

In reference to art. 7 of the Statute – The General Assembly shall be considered valid regardless of the number of members present.

During the Extraordinary General assembly number of decisions has been made, including:
• Dismissal of Mr. Kwieciński from the function of the President of the WTKF Management Board,
• New WTKF president election – Dr. Volodymyr Savchenko elected
• Dismissal of Mr. Carrion from the function of the Secretary of the WTKF Management Board,
• New WTKF General Secretary election – Mr. Giedrius Dranevicius elected
•  Mr. Moshe Rokah elected as new member of the Board of Directors
• Upholding the support of the XIX Pan-American Karate-do Championships in Mexico 2019,
• Cancelling of the WTKF General Assembly in Mexico 2019,
• Setting the term of an WTKF Ordinary General Assembly on the December 15, 2019 in Warsaw (Poland).

Referring to the above argumentation, any meeting of national representatives during the XIX Pan-American Karate-do Championships in Mexico 2019 has the only effect as a sport event and any other action regarding the WTKF Management Board, WTKF Calendar, WTKF Finances, etc. will be invalid and unlawful.

Mr. Kwieciński and Mr. Carrion at the moment act as private persons, neither represent national federation or management position in WTKF.

Members of WTKF board of directors:

Volodymyr Savchenko, WTKF president
Andrzej Maciejewski, WTKF vice-president
Giedrius Dranevicius, WTKF General Secretary
Radek Janus, WTKF treasurer
Moshe Rokah, WTKF director

Dear members,
we are happy to announce, that  extraordinary general assembly in Prague was very successful. New board members were elected, representatives of traditional karate federations.

We would like to thank all participated members, who voted and also all representatives joined online this meeting without vote rights.

Mr. Dr. Volodymyr Savchenko was elected as new WTKF president for his long time  work in traditional karate. Mr. Moshe Rokah, representative of Traditional Karate Israel was elected as new board member. Mr. Giedrius Dranevicius, representative of Lithuanian Traditional Karate Association was elected as new General Secretary.

Mr. Kwieciński a Mr. Carrion dismissed of the current Board Members.

The event organized by the Russian federation, is striped from organizing the 34th European Championship, because it did not meet the requirements of an European Championships. Instead of the Championships the EGAM declares that the event has to be called an International Karate Tournament. Furthermore the event will not be authorized by the WTKF, and it is prohibited to use the name and logo of the WTKF. 

Official 34th European Championships will be held on 9th November, 2019  in Brno, Czech republic.

Official Extraordinary General Assembly meeting minutes, were sent to national federation representatives.