After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurds in the Middle East became the largest ethnic group in the region without a state of their own. Divided between Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq, the Kurds have fought for their right to exist as a distinct national group, as well as, for governing themselves. This seminar provides a historical and conceptual account of events in order to detail the key conditions, factors, and events that gave rise to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) conflict in Turkey, as well as the conditions influencing the emergence, management, and collapse of the peace talks (2009-2015). Drawing from conflict resolution theories, this seminar investigates the transformation of key conflict actors and changes, over time, in their approach to the main conflict issues.

Arin also expands the concept of conflict transformation to encompass the ideological transformation of a movement as a result of a rigorous and deep intellectual epiphany on the part of the political leaders - a phenomenon that is unusual and little is known about, making it all the more relevant to include in future theoretical approaches in peace process studies. Methodologically, she rethinks conflict transformation/resolution approaches to focus on shifts in beliefs and relationships that occur prior to a peace process or the start of peace negotiations, when often much focus on peace processes is on the post-agreement phase. This seminar is based on Arin's book Turkey and the Kurdish Peace Process, which is among the first comprehensive, scholarly accounts to date (in the English language) that analyzes the Kurdish peace process. 

Dr. Arin Savran is currently a Research Data Advisor with the Swedish National Data Service, based at University of Gothenburg. Previously she was a Visiting Scholar at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at University of Notre Dame in 2019 and also at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast in 2019/20. Dr. Savran holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford with a thesis titled “Why peace processes fail: A conceptual analysis of the peace talks between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), 2009-2015”. She has taught at University of Bradford and given public lectures at University of Notre Dame, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Belmont Abbey College, and Addis Ababa University. In November 2022, her monograph Turkey and the Kurdish Peace Process was published by University of Michigan Press.

This event is part of the spring 2023 CMES seminar series. For more information see the full program: