Restorative Justice and the Kurdish Conflict: Preparing for Peace in Turkey

The decades-long Kurdish conflict, marked by its complex and multifaceted nature, has seen cycles of violence alongside persistent efforts toward peace and justice. Despite numerous initiatives, traditional approaches—grounded in retributive and transitional justice—have failed to achieve lasting resolution. This study, based on research for my master’s thesis, explores an alternative by examining the role of restorative justice, particularly as a preparatory mechanism for peacebuilding and a complementary instrument to traditional justice processes. By engaging with global critiques of retributive justice and contextualizing them within the Kurdish experience, this research seeks to fill a gap in the literature that has yet to fully address restorative justice in this context. Using a case study methodology based on secondary data, including reports from civil society, multimedia sources, and official documents, the study evaluates how restorative practices can facilitate dialogue, reconciliation, and community healing ahead of formal peace negotiations. Drawing on global examples of restorative justice, the research assesses their relevance and potential to complement retributive understanding of the conflict. As it is the first comprehensive examination of restorative justice as a framework for addressing the Kurdish conflict, it offers critical insights into peace preparation and justice debates.