Any Hopes for Truth? Enforced Disappearances and Missing Persons in the Caucasus, Middle East, and North Africa is a book project that results from an effort to understand the regional and comparative dimensions of enforced disappearances and missing persons in the mentioned regions.

Objective

Within the scope of this project, our aim was to address the issues of forced disappearances and missing persons in Turkey from a comparative perspective with the neighboring countries in our region. We aimed to contribute to a knowledge base that strengthens relationships between individuals and institutions operating in these countries.

Rationale

The idea for this book emerged from a regional workshop focused on forced disappearances and missing persons, which took place in Istanbul in January 2017. Representatives from Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Cyprus, and Turkey participated in the workshop and presented on the fundamental aspects of missing persons issues in their respective countries.

The presentations highlighted the need for a comparative analysis at the regional level, as the issue of missing persons exhibits both country-specific and common characteristics in each nation. Understanding these shared and distinct aspects is crucial for meaningful cross-border collaborations within civil society. We believed that a comparative perspective on these characteristics would provide a knowledge platform that strengthens relationships between individuals and institutions operating in different countries.

Activities

1. Book

In 2019, we published a book titled "Any Hopes for Truth? Forced Disappearances and Missing Persons in the Caucasus, the Middle East, and North Africa." The book, written by Özgür Sevgi Göral from the Memory Center, consists of chapters on Russia, Armenia-Azerbaijan-Georgia, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Cyprus, and Algeria. It presents a comparative analysis of missing persons and forced disappearances in these countries.

2. Work Visits

We view this book as a means to enhance our knowledge and acquaintance with other institutions working on forced disappearances in the region's countries. With this goal in mind, we conducted the writing process of the book in close collaboration, incorporating the views and comments of workshop participants. Following the book's publication in early 2019, our next step was to plan work visits to the countries covered in the book. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this process experienced a two-year interruption after our first work visit to Cyprus in November 2019. 

► Click to visit the interactive website of the book. 
► Click to view the book in PDF format.