First phase finalized in our project “Defending Peace in Difficult Times”

Saturday Mothers / People whose loved ones have been forcible disappeared are among the leading actors that demand peace in Turkey. Photograph: Veysi Altay.

On 25-26 May 2018, we held a two-day closed workshop as part of our recent project Defending Peace in Difficult Times. The meeting was held in Istanbul with the participation of project’s direct stakeholders, along two international experts.

Our objective in this project is to present a comprehensive and objective analysis of the peace process which took place from 2013 to 2015 in Turkey. We hope that this study will contribute to the broadening of peace research, strengthening of the peace struggle and the reclaiming of demand for peace in public space in Turkey.

The project Defending Peace in Difficult Times is comprised of 3 stages and every stage centers on a different question. The completed first stage focuses on the reasons behind the failure of the peace process. For the following stages, our focus will revolve around the developments after the failure of the peace and the different imaginations about its future scenarios.

The research for the first stage was designed to include in-depth interviews with actors on different political positions and the surveying of published reports during 2013-2015. The program of the workshop included the following four headings, including presenting the findings of this research:

• Research: We shared with and received from the participants about the findings of our research.
• Peace chronology: Currently, we are working on a chronology of threshold events around the peace process. We informed and received feedback from the participants about the current status of its content and its interactive design.
• World experiences: The workshop also included two international experts with experience on peace processes in Philippines, Colombia and Indonesia, who participated with presentations on peace processes in these countries. Furthermore, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer who led the government committee during Philippines peace process, also joined through a video message. You may read about interview with Kristian Herbolzheimer on his experience on the Philippines peace process.  Philippines: An innovative case on peace building.
• Study visit: On May 2018, we carried out a study visit to Norway and Sweden to meet with expert organisations who work on peace and conflict resolution. We also presented our findings from this visit.

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