Peace Ever? A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION

The Kurdish conflict has been one of the most central issues in Turkish politics today.However, not much has been done to facilitate the resolution of this conflict on the state level. The meetings and talks for potential solutions have been delayed, demands for democratization, restricted. The tension of the issue has also affected the people of Turkey and their wish to mobilize for possible solutions. Yet, most of the limited attempts for dialogue and peace-building between the two parties have come from civil society, especially mobilizations of women in Turkey, and feminist activists. This study scrutinizes the Kurdish conflict and the attempts for its resolution. In particular, it addresses the questions of the way women's organizations/politically active women participate in the process of conflict resolution and the kind of discourses Kurdish and Turkish women make use of around the issues of peace and peace-building. It also sheds light on the tension between Kurdish and Turkish women/feminists and the ambiguities within the peace discourse generated around the issues of nationalism, violence, militarism and patriarchy vis-a-vis the women of the two sides."