A Process Without a Name: Fighting Wars, Negotiating Peace in Kurdistan

Presentation
The latest process between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK - Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan) and the Republic of Turkey has generated more confusion than clarity. While the Kurdistan Liberation Movement and the state each offer their own interpretations of the issue—and of the power structures shaped and reinforced by it—various political actors, both state and non-state, have taken decisions and steps that were neither fully anticipated nor clearly understood. Commentators, often working with limited information, have rushed to interpret developments, sometimes producing more speculation than insight.
The current moment contains many unknowns, compounded by the opacity of both the negotiations themselves and the actors involved. And every peace process generates its own dynamics and novelties, shaped by specific historical and political conditions. Yet, to date, there has been little sustained academic engagement that moves beyond familiar refrains—for example, that this process resembles no other peace process, or that an undemocratic process cannot produce a democratic outcome.
With this workshop, we aim to explore key questions, reflecting on the process and on the (im)possibilities of peace in Turkey and in the wider region.

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