イベント
2026年07月13日
[Panel Discussion] Challenges and Prospects for Reconciliation in Turkey’s Peace Process with the Kurds
開催日
2026年07月23日 (木) ～ 2026年07月23日 (木)| 日時 | 23 July 2026 (Thursday), 14:00–17:00 |
|---|---|
| 場所 | Hybrid format (in-person and online participation available) Aoyama Gakuin University (Aoyama Campus), Soken-building No.14, 9th floor, Meeting Room 16. (Access) + Online |
| 参加費 | Free (* For Post-panel dinner (optional), ¥1,000 per person) |
| 参加方法 | Pre-registration required. Deadline: 20 July (Mon) Registration Link: https://forms.gle/CkWRLFYm2S8MNH9x6 |
| 使用言語 | English |
| 主催・共催 | Sponsored by • JSPS Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (International Leading Research) Exploring International Reconciliation Studies (23K20033) Co-organized by • Gender/Ethnicity Group, Waseda Institute of International Reconciliation Studies • ILCAA Core Project (History / Area Studies), Field Archiving of Memory: Dynamics of Cooperation in Muslim Society, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies |
| 問い合わせ | khalili[at]aa.tufs.ac.jp または kumagai[at]gsc.aoyama.ac.jp |
Program
| 14:00–14:05 | Opening Remarks (Prof. Naoko Kumagai) |
|---|---|
| 14:05–14:10 | Introduction of the Panelists and Commentator |
| 14:10–14:50 | Prof. Mashuq Kurt |
| 14:50–15:30 | Dr. Barış Öktem |
| 15:30–15:50 | Commentator’s Remarks (Dr. Mostafa Khalili) |
| 15:50–16:00 | Intermission |
| 16:00–17:00 | Q&A and General Discussion |
| 17:30- | Post-panel dinner (optional; ¥1,000 per person) |
The Kurdish question in Turkey remains one of the most enduring and contentious conflicts in the contemporary Middle East. Despite several initiatives to end armed confrontation and move towards a negotiated settlement, the peace process between the Turkish state and Kurdish actors has repeatedly stalled or collapsed.
This panel examines the challenges confronting Turkey’s Kurdish peace process and reflects on the prospects for reconciliation in a context marked by deep mistrust, competing narratives of violence and victimhood, and persistent asymmetries of power. Bringing together scholars and practitioners with long-standing engagement in Kurdish communities in Turkey, the discussion situates the peace process within broader debates on truth, justice, and the conditions under which reconciliation can be imagined. In doing so, the panel also contextualizes cross-border developments across the Kurdish geographies in Syria, Iraq and Iran, and its implications for the security and reconciliation in the broader Middle East.
The panel will address, among others, the following questions:
- What have been the main obstacles to a durable peace process between the Turkish state and Kurdish actors, and how have these evolved over time?
- In what ways do conflicting historical memories and narratives about violence, identity, and sovereignty undermine the possibility of reconciliation?
- What might a credible reconciliation framework for justice, recognition, and meaningful public participation would look like?
- What are the regional implications of Turkey’s peace process for Kurdish communities and political actors in Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and how might developments in one context shape possibilities or constraints in the others?
- How do Kurdish communities, particularly younger generations engage and interpret the failures and partial openings of past peace efforts, and what do they expect from any future process?
- What role do diaspora communities, and the legal precarity faced by Kurdish migrants abroad, play in shaping expectations of justice, recognition, and reconciliation in the Turkish–Kurdish context?
- How can insights from reconciliation studies and other cases of protracted conflict help us think about “good relations” and shared futures in the Turkish–Kurdish context?
Panelists
Prof. Mashuq Kurt
Associate Professor of Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Dr Kurt specialises in Kurdish politics, Islamic movements, and conflict in the Middle East and among the Muslim diasporas in Europe and North America. He is the author of Kurdish Hizbullah in Turkey: Islamism, Violence and the State and numerous articles in journals such as Current Anthropology, South Atlantic Quarterly and Contemporary Islam. Dr Kurt is a regular contributor to public and policy debates and has organised panels at the British Parliament, Chatham House and RUSI. His public commentary appeared in Foreign Policy, Le Monde and the New Arab, among others.
Dr. Barış Öktem
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, Keio University.
Dr Öktem is a political sociologist working at the intersection of migration studies, digital sociology, and Kurdish studies, and a contributing analyst on Kurdish affairs for diplomacy units of embassies. His research focuses on Kurdish refugees and migrants, digital habitus, and legal precarity, with particular emphasis on how everyday encounters with law and state institutions shape perceptions of justice, belonging, and political possibility. He coordinates NextGen Kurdî, a youth-focused civil society initiative in Turkey, funded by the European Endowment for Democracy. He writes on Kurdish politics for regional and international outlets, bringing a grounded perspective on the social bases of trust and mistrust in peace and reconciliation efforts.
Commentator
Dr. Mostafa Khalili
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Dr Khalili is a political anthropologist whose work focuses on Kurdish communities in the tri-border of Iran, Iraq and Turkey, everyday ethnicity, and inter-minority relations.
Moderator
Prof. Naoko Kumagai
School of Global Studies and Collaboration, Aoyama Gakuin University