Thursday, 9 February 2012By Gözde Damla Citler, JTW
USAK hosted the “Talking Peace in the Kurdish Question” workshop which was organized by the Peace Studies Center and chaired by its coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Havva Kök, with the participation of journalist and writer Bejan Matur, Prof. Dr. Mithat Sancar from the Ankara University Faculty of Law and USAK experts.
At the beginning of the workshop, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Havva Kök gave a presentation on peace studies and its aims, and briefly explained the terms of positive peace, non-violence, empathy and creativity. Afterward, she mentioned the differences among three world views which are survival-based, identity-based and unity-based.
Assoc. Prof. Kök also underlined the importance of the Human Needs Theory and how it would be used in order to determine the possible needs of the Kurdish political movement. She expressed the necessity of determining the basic needs of the Kurdish movement across the strategies it prefers and the need of studies with regard to this subject.
Prof. Dr. Mithat Sancar said that peace studies would contribute to the solution of this issue as well as the transformation of the conflict. Prof. Sancar also expressed his belief in the importance of determining the necessities and shedding light on the dynamics that escalated the violence.
Bejan Matur said that she was very happy that these issues are now being handled in an academic atmosphere as well, rather than in the media and political sphere as we are used to. Ms. Matur explained that she tried to emphasize the importance of being human in her book titled Daðýn Ardýna Bakmak (Looking Beyond the Mountain). Ms. Matur stated that the current discourse excludes and forgets about being “human.” She said that she tries to approach this issue like an interpreter and understand why people prefer to go up the mountains and use violence as a means to achieve something.
Ms. Matur also said that being one of the people who knows the Kurdish society from within makes her understand the emotional chaos. According to Ms. Matur, a policy which is able to govern people while considering that human beings are complex and how lots of factors create their existence would contribute to the solution of many issues.
The workshop ended with a Q&A session. |
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Gözde Damla Citler, JTW
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