AMED – Peace academic Ulaş Bayraktar highlighted the importance of bringing together those who lost loved ones, saying, “We need a process that questions assumptions. We put everyone into boxes. Maybe we need to forget some of what we know and listen carefully.”
At the “Path to Peace: Memory and Justice” meeting organized by the Human Rights Association (IHD) on June 21–22 in Amed (Diyarbakır), families of guerrillas and soldiers who lost relatives due to the Kurdish conflict shared their pain and stories.
The meeting included emotional testimonies such as Rozerin Çukur’s mother searching for her daughter in excavation trucks, her fight to bury her daughter after 5,5 months, and stories from the families of Roboski, Vedat Aydın, and Mehmet Sincar.
Additionally, Assistant Professor Ulaş Bayraktar from Mersin University, who lost his father in PKK’s 1980 armed actions and was dismissed from the university in 2016 for signing the "We Will Not Be Party to This Crime" declaration, shared his own story.
Bayraktar stressed that fully understanding the pain is impossible but emphasized the importance of acting even without fully feeling it: “The fire burns where it falls. Though I do not have that burn and cannot fully understand, it is important to accept the testimony as truth and act accordingly.”
He noted that 45 years after his father’s death, the issue remains unresolved: “Without removing the causes that create it, a ‘terror-free’ condition is impossible.”
He also pointed out the need to question what is assumed to be known in the peace process. Sharing an anecdote from university about attending a funeral at a cemevi (Alevi place of worship), he reflected on societal stereotypes and prejudices, concluding, “We need a process that questions assumptions.”
Bayraktar warned against victims acting from hatred and said he tries to keep distance from anger and hatred: “If we respond with the same language of hatred, we become subjects of hatred ourselves.”
Emphasizing the continuation of such meetings by IHD, he said, “True peace is more than ceasefires between institutions; it requires reconciliation among individuals and communities. Real peace is possible through the coming together of mothers. It is crucial to expand these small but meaningful events both in number and geography.”
Finally, citing conversations with Peace Mothers, he stated that the peace process will progress slowly through trial and error: “We must do something with the hope of willpower. This process should be supported by art and culture. Giving up is not an option.”
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