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Imagining Citizenship, Identity and Peace: The Kurdish Youth in Diyarbakir
Abstract
In the recent years Kurdish children and youth have become increasingly more visible in the Turkish media and public discourse, particularly due to their increasing presence at the forefront of mass demonstrations celebrating the PKK and its leader ?calan. The representation of the children in this context of Turkey's Kurdish Question is either as one of perpetrators (as "stone throwing kids" that support a terrorist organization and continuation of violence) or as one of victims (of police violence, state terror, structural problems, families and finally of justice mechanisms). What has been missing from these debates and discussions are the voices and perspectives of the children and young people themselves. This research is an attempt to give voice to the Kurdish children and young people. It is motivated by the assumption that peace in south eastern Turkey would have to involve not only willingness of the youth in the region, but also their ability to imagine peace and their empowerment as social actors to build peace. Accordingly, it will explore how children and young Kurds in Turkey imagine peace, particularly in the context of identity and citizenship debates in the country; what they think about the attainability of peace in the near future; and how they perceive their own roles as active agents in any attempts of peacebuilding and reconstruction in the region. Due to time and funding restraints, the article will focus on the young people in Diyarbakir, between the ages of 12 and 18 years, and particularly on the Kurdish youth. Influenced by the Participation Action Research (PAR) tradition, it will employ as its methodology the use of focus group as empowering forum. The focus groups will be conducted in DiyarbakDr during March 2010.
Discipline
International Relations/Affairs
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
None