Peace Ever?

The Kurdish conflict has been one of the most centralissues in Turkish politics today.However, not muchhas been done to facilitate the resolution of thisconflict on the state level. The meetings and talksfor potential solutions have been delayed, demandsfor democratization, restricted. The tension of theissue has also affected the people of Turkey andtheir wish to mobilize for possible solutions. Yet,most of the limited attempts for dialogue andpeace-building between the two parties have come fromcivil society, especially mobilizations of women inTurkey, and feminist activists.This study scrutinizes the Kurdish conflict and theattempts for its resolution. In particular, itaddresses the questions of the way women'sorganizations/politically active women participate inthe process of conflict resolution and the kind ofdiscourses Kurdish and Turkish women make use ofaround the issues of peace and peace-building.It also sheds light on the tension between Kurdishand Turkish women/feminists and the ambiguitieswithin the peace discourse generated around theissues of nationalism, violence, militarism andpatriarchy vis-ŕ-vis the women of the two sides.