The Peace Mothers (Kurdish: ''Dayîkên Aşîtîyê'', Turkish: ''Barış Anneleri'') is a women's

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

in Turkey, which aims to promote peace between Turkey's different ethnic groups through

non-violent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

means.

History

The Peace Mothers dates from 1999. A member of the founding Assembly explained " We had come together to say that the dirty war should come to an end and that there should be peace among Turks and Kurds." Many of the women involved have lost a close relative in the

Kurdish–Turkish conflict Kurdish nationalism, Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the prese ...

. In the words of Türkiye Bozkurt " In 1999 we came together as mothers, whose children were either in the mountains, in prisons or had lost their lives in the war." They are based in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and Diyarbakir. They have been frequently in the news for their protests and court cases. In 2000,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

reported a delegation of Peace Mothers had allegedly been tortured and ill-treated, after they travelled to neighbouring Iraq to try to mediate between the two sides in the civil conflict in the Kurdish region in North

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. The lawyer who defended them,

Eren Keskin Eren Keskin (born April 24, 1959 in Bursa, Turkey) is a Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist in Turkey. She is the vice-president of the Turkish Human Rights Association (İHD) and a former president of its Istanbul branch. She co-founded th ...

, was later put on trial for having insulted the army after her description of the alleged torture of the Peace Mothers was published in a newspaper. In June 2006, Peace Mother activists Muyesser Gunes and Sakine Arat were sentenced to 1-year jail each and 600 YTL in Ankara 4th Criminal Court on a charge of praising a separatist organisation and its leader, after they had visited the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

headquarters on 22 August 2005 to present their case. The sentence was later commuted to 10 months. In July 2006, twenty-four Peace Mothers aged between 40 and 75 years, were sentenced to 12 months’ jail by the Diyarbakır 4th Criminal Court after being found guilty of voicing "separatist propaganda". In August 2009 a group of Peace Mothers organised a

peace march A peace walk or peace march, sometimes referred to as a peace pilgrimage, is a form of nonviolent action where a person or group marches a set distance to raise awareness for particular issues important to the walkers. 350 km Long Peace Walk New ...

from Diyarbakir and

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

and held a

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

protest near the

Turkish General Staff , image = , image_size = 160px , caption = Emblem of the General Staff , dates = 3 May 1920 – present , country = , allegiance ...

headquarters in Ankara.

References

{{reflist Human rights organizations based in Turkey Civil rights organizations Women's organizations based in Turkey

History

See also

References