Peace in Turkey 2023: The Question of Human Security and Conflict Transformation.

• Author: Dilek, Esra
• Position: Book review

Peace In Turkey 2023: The Question of Human Security and Conflict Transformation

By Tim Jacoby and Alparslan Ozerdem

United Kingdom: Lexington Books, 2013, 186 pages, $80, ISBN 9780739143414.

Peace in Turkey 2023, published in 2013, adds to the discussions on conflict transformation and human security by focusing on the case of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey from the perspective of "scenario building." As Tim Jacoby and Alparslan Ozerdem underline in the introduction of their book, politics in Turkey are marked by conflicting trends that point to an uncertain future, especially with regard to the Kurdish issue. The question of what Turkey will look like in the centenary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic is undoubtedly central, considering that the peace process has come to a halt. In a timely manner, the book adopts a unique approach to the Kurdish conflict based on "scenariobuilding," which prompts us to think about future scenarios of the Kurdish issue in Turkey. The authors carefully underline that scenario building is "a method of stretching peoples' perceptions and ideas about what the future may be like" (p. 12). In this respect, scenario building is not a tool for predicting the future, but rather an approach for imagining the future and thinking more deeply about the current situation.

One of the book's most important contributions is that it provides brief and refined analyses of four cases of international conflict resolution processes. The second chapter is devoted to these cases, which are: Sri Lanka; Aceh, Indonesia; Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom; and Basque, Spain. In my opinion, the importance of providing a brief overview of these international cases is twofold: First, it provides a basis for a comparative analysis of these cases with the Kurdish rebellion in Turkey. Secondly, it is informative for the reader since these four cases are frequently cited in everyday discussions on the peace process in Turkey. After examining the international conflict resolution processes in the cases cited above, the third chapter is devoted to the Kurdish rebellion. The authors here provide the historical background of the conflict starting from the Ottoman era, and then continue on to the formation of parliamentary action since the early 1990s.

The gist of the book lies in the fourth and fifth chapters, which present a best case and a worst case scenario for the Turkey of 2023. The best case scenario offers a picture of...