Waiting for the peace: a comparative study of people who lost their family members in the conflict in the souteast and east of Turkey

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2009
Şentürk, Burcu
This thesis mainly aims to understand the dynamics behind the way in which people who lost family members in the conflict in the Southeastern and Eastern parts of Turkey between the years 1993 and 2006 are positioned as oppositional to each others. It inquires whether their common grief of loosing someone in the family might enable them to act collectively and to ask for peace in Turkey. How are they represented as oppositional groups despite their common grief? Why do they consider each other as belonging to the “other side”? How does this kind of representation prevent them from coming together and asking for a peaceful termination of conflict in Turkey? In discussing these questions, the concepts of peace, violence, security, inequalities, terrorism, religion, martyrdom, ideology, and hegemony are drawn upon. Galtung’s approach to peace is taken as the general framework. Moreover, martyrdom is considered as key concept that interlinks the other concepts as interviewees conceptualize them.

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Citation Formats
B. Şentürk, “Waiting for the peace: a comparative study of people who lost their family members in the conflict in the souteast and east of Turkey,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2009.