Description
This paper examines the trajectory of activism around transitional justice, peace, and reckoning with the past in Turkey, focusing on the Kurdish conflict. For decades, a wide-ranging network of activists, politicians, lawyers, practitioners, intellectuals, and artists—including direct victims and survivors of state violence—have mobilised to demand accountability, truth, memorialisation, and justice. These efforts have even led to unique initiatives, such as the unofficial Truth and Justice Commission for Diyarbakır Prison. However, formal political processes have increasingly restricted these activities, stifling creative approaches to addressing historical injustices. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with Kurdish individuals in activist spaces, this paper illuminates the diverse emotions, motivations, and setbacks contributing to a recent decline in enthusiasm and engagement with transitional justice and efforts to confront the past.
