Abstract Literature on the termination of intrastate armed conflicts has primarily focused on the conditions under which key protagonists agree on negotiated settlements, often treating peace processes as having a discrete endpoint rather than being a recurrent process. This article reconsiders this assumption by focusing on the concept of peace rejuvenation—periods in which conflict parties re-engage in dialogue/negotiation or publicly recommit to diplomacy after previous breakdowns. The analysis builds on and extends but also criticizes the “ripeness”/ “mutually hurting stalemate” (MHS) framework, which suggests that actors rejuvenate peace efforts only when they perceive continued conflict as more costly than compromise. While MHS offers a valuable insight for identifying moments conducive to negotiation, it falls short in explaining and operationalizing repeated returns to dialogue and disregards actors’ subjective evaluation. This article argues that peace rejuvenation arises not only from warring elites’ cost-benefit calculations but also from the interplay of domestic and international pressures, exogenous shocks (such as disasters and economic crises), and shifts in opportunity structures that reshape actors’ approach to peace. Drawing on qualitative insights from those who were directly involved in Mozambican, Filipino, and Indonesian peace processes, all of which are characterized as having experienced asymmetric civil wars and third-party involvement, this study develops a comparative framework for understanding peace rejuvenation. The analysis highlights how diverse actors, including mediators, business elites, and civil society organizations, as well as contingent events such as natural disasters, leadership transitions, or regional realignments, can catalyze renewed engagement. Yet it underscores that the translation of such disruptions into genuine windows of opportunity ultimately depends on state leadership’s willingness and capacity to recognize and act upon mutually enticing moments. By conceptualizing peace rejuvenation as a process of political and institutional renewal rather than as an isolated turning point, the article refines existing theories of ripeness and contributes to a more dynamic understanding of how protracted conflicts can generate successive opportunities for negotiated peace.

This article examines how minority groups engaged in armed conflict express solidarity with similarly situated groups elsewhere. While existing research has focused on relations between minorities and majorities, far less is known about cross-minority solidarity in conflict settings. Drawing on an original nationwide survey in Turkey and in-depth interviews with members of parliament, this study analyzes how Kurds perceive the Israel-Palestine conflict in the context of the recent Israel-Hamas war. It argues that although Kurds in Turkey have historically supported the Palestinian cause, recent developments in Turkey and the broader Middle East, along with changes in Palestinian leadership, have complicated this support. The findings demonstrate that cross-minority solidarity is more limited and contingent than is often assumed, even among groups that share a common faith or a history of marginalization. Political ideology, party affiliation, and international alignments play a central role in shaping these attitudes.

From the 16th century up to the last decades of the Ottoman Empire, dozens of Kurdish tribes migrated west and settled in the Central Anatolian plains. Geographically isolated, these Kurds sustained a largely peaceful relationship with their Turkish neighbours and maintained their tribal traditions and distinct ethnolinguistic identity. But more recently they have been exposed to forces of modernization and increasingly confrontational Turkish-Kurdish relations. This book is the first study in the English language on the Kurds of Central Anatolia. Based on extensive fieldwork, the majority of the chapters are written by scholars from within the Central Anatolian community and include perspectives from across history, anthropology, sociology and political science. The book analyses how these Kurds came to be in the plains of Central Anatolia, how they maintained their distinct identity and their evolving relationship with Turkey. It also examines the diaspora communities following their large-scale migration toward major urban centres in Turkey and Western countries. At a time when the Kurds of Central Anatolia are undergoing wide-scale transformations and contact with Kurds from the east, this book is an increasingly urgent examination into their past, their Kurdish identity and their future.

In February 2025, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned since 1999, called on the organization to disarm. The group swiftly complied, first declaring a cease-fire in March and then, in May, formally announcing its readiness to dissolve if the Turkish government recognized Kurdish identity and enabled meaningful democratic participation. What does this mean for a half-century struggle spanning Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran? Is it the end of the PKK or the emergence of PKK 3.0, a shift from armed insurgency to transnational political action? The outcome of this unfolding chain of events will depend on Turkish leadership, regional alignments, and sustained Western engagement, with far-reaching consequences for Kurds, Turkey, and the future of the Middle East.

We draw on Turkey - a Muslim-majority country governed by the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi - AKP) for the past two decades - to examine some underexplored implications of the supply-side theory of religion. The longevity and shifting nature of AKP rule provide a unique opportunity to observe the subtleties involved in the noticeable strengthening of Sunni Islam's religious monopoly in a Muslim society. Results from a series of public opinion surveys conducted between 2010 and 2020 show that the AKP rule has caused the religious segment of Turkish society to consolidate around AKP and secular sections to consolidate around the opposition, leading to a significant polarization within the country. We argue this is because hegemonic religious policies may create crosscutting effects which both increase and decrease religiosity. The findings also have political implications that are undertheorized in the supply-side literature.

This paper investigates possible sociopolitical reconciliatory mechanisms to garner support for peacemaking in conflict-torn societies. Building on the Kurdish question in Turkey, associated with a four-decade-long armed conflict that has spilled over into neighboring Syria and Iraq, we identify policies and framing that can attract support for a political solution to the conflict. We highlight the need for a sociopolitical reconciliatory approach that addresses both the hopes of the warring minority and the fears of the majority. The results from an original nationwide survey indicate that minority demands can initially be addressed through a 'soft settlement,' lying between individual and collective rights. Our results point to the need to relax the concept of negotiated settlement, which has become the most frequent approach to ending internal armed conflicts in the post-Cold War era. Este art & iacute;culo investiga posibles mecanismos sociopol & iacute;ticos en materia de reconciliaci & oacute;n, que puedan ayudar a obtener apoyos para el establecimiento de la paz en sociedades desgarradas por conflictos. Partimos de la base de la cuesti & oacute;n kurda en Turqu & iacute;a, la cual se encuentra asociada con un conflicto armado de cuatro d & eacute;cadas que se ha extendido a los vecinos Siria e Irak, para identificar pol & iacute;ticas y marcos que pueden atraer apoyos para una soluci & oacute;n pol & iacute;tica al conflicto. Destacamos la necesidad de un enfoque sociopol & iacute;tico reconciliador que sea capaz de abordar tanto las esperanzas de la minor & iacute;a beligerante como los temores de la mayor & iacute;a. Los resultados de una encuesta original a nivel nacional indican que estas demandas de las minor & iacute;as pueden abordarse, inicialmente, a trav & eacute;s de un << acuerdo blando >>, el cual representa un compromiso entre los derechos individuales y colectivos. Nuestros resultados apuntan a la necesidad de flexibilizar el concepto de soluci & oacute;n negociada, que se ha convertido en el enfoque m & aacute;s frecuente para poner fin a los conflictos armados internos en la era posterior a la Guerra Fr & iacute;a. Cet article examine les m & eacute;canismes de r & eacute;conciliation sociopolitique possibles en vue d'obtenir du soutien & agrave; la pacification dans des soci & eacute;t & eacute;s rong & eacute;es par le conflit. En nous fondant sur la question kurde en Turquie, associ & eacute;e & agrave; un conflit arm & eacute; qui dure depuis quarante ans et qui a d & eacute;bord & eacute; sur deux pays voisins, la Syrie et l'Irak, nous identifions des politiques et des cadrages susceptibles de faire augmenter le soutien d'une solution politique & agrave; un conflit. Nous soulignons la n & eacute;cessit & eacute; d'une approche de r & eacute;conciliation sociopolitique qui r & eacute;ponde & agrave; la fois aux espoirs de la minorit & eacute; en lutte et aux craintes de la majorit & eacute;. D'apr & egrave;s les r & eacute;sultats d'un sondage in & eacute;dit d'& eacute;chelle nationale, les demandes de minorit & eacute; peuvent d'abord & ecirc;tre trait & eacute;es & agrave; l'aide d'un << r & egrave;glement doux des diff & eacute;rends >>, & agrave; la limite entre les droits individuels et collectifs. Nos r & eacute;sultats indiquent qu'il est n & eacute;cessaire d'assouplir le concept de r & egrave;glement des diff & eacute;rends n & eacute;goci & eacute;, l'approche la plus courante pour mettre fin aux conflits arm & eacute;s internes depuis la fin de la guerre froide.

While a growing body of research has highlighted a significant and positive relationship between negotiated peace agreements and postwar democratization, they have focused almost exclusively on a minimalist form of electoral democracy. We extend this analysis to consideration of how civil war outcomes affect egalitarian democracy, which measures the extent to which the regime incorporates (1) equal protection of rights and freedoms, (2) equal distribution of resources, and (3) equal access to power. We add V-Dem egalitarian democracy measures to the UCDP Conflict Termination dataset to determine whether civil war outcomes account for just the emergence of electoral democracy or whether they also affect the prospects for a more just and equitable society for citizens at the grassroots level. Our findings highlight the need to qualify the effect of modes of war termination on postwar democratization. Peace agreements are followed by higher levels of democratization than is the case with other civil war outcomes, but the effect on egalitarian democracy is more durable than the effect on electoral democracy.

Unlike various natural disasters that some studies have highlighted as potential contributors to peace, the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is neither short-term nor regionally confined. Thus, rather than invoking a compassionate response, the pandemic is likely to aggravate pre-existing divisions and create an environment that accentuates survival over compassion. Building on a large probability survey data gathered in May 2020 in Turkey, we demonstrate that the pandemic has disproportionally affected minority Kurds and exacerbated pre-existing inequalities and social polarization. Results from a series of regression analyses show growing dissatisfaction with the Turkish government’s handling of the pandemic. However, this effect fails to translate into the sense of solidarity between majority Turks and minority Kurds necessary to build a peaceful society. Support for the government’s approach to the Kurdish opposition seems to be conditioned by social categorization and increasingly partisan political identities in Turkey.

“The twentieth century saw Kurds suffering from harsh discriminatory and assimilationist polices at the hands of central governments dominated by Turkish, Persian and Arab political elites. With the turn of the twenty-first century, however, the once-marginalized Kurds have emerged as key players in the rapidly changing Middle East. Despite a growing sense of optimism, however, serious obstacles remain as Kurds make progress towards political recognition. In this chapter, the challenges and opportunities the twenty-first century has brought about are examined with the aim of shedding light on domestic, regional and global dynamics in assessing the prospects of Kurdish aspiration for recognition in the new century.”

To what extent do women's rights change in a post-civil war society, and what explains these changes? To address these questions, a number of studies emphasise the disruptions to daily home, work, and community environments brought about by the dynamics of conflict. While war is disruptive and has the potential to generate new opportunities for women, we argue that conflict alone fails to explain variations in women's rights. Using a cross-sectional dataset, we examine the insurgent group's political ideology as a central explanatory factor for changes in women's rights in the aftermath of civil war. Results from a series of regression analyses show that while wartime dynamics help improve women's political rights, this is not necessarily the case when it comes to women's economic and social rights. These results demonstrate the need to account for the insurgent group's political ideology in examining the change to women's rights in the context of armed conflict.

In a region undergoing dramatic changes, the Kurds in particular have begun to enjoy a political resurgence. Of those countries where Kurds reside, Turkey is the single most important actor for several reasons: It is a powerful state that is home to more than half of the total Kurdish population; it has been locked in a stalemate with (arguably) the most powerful Kurdish insurgent group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party [Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan, PKK]; this decades-long armed conflict progressively has acquired a trans-border disposition and fomented disagreement between Turkey and the United States in Syria; and lastly, Turkey under the Justice and Development Party [Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP] gradually is distancing itself from the Western bloc and moving away from democratic values and principles. This article examines the evolving Kurdish question in Turkey with an emphasis on how it is interacting with changing domestic, regional, and global dynamics.

This article examines the effectiveness of religion as a solution to ethno-nationalist conflicts, drawing on the case of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan [PKK]) in Turkey. We utilize an original data set that contains data on Turkey's state-sponsored mosques between 1980 and 2016 to test for the purported peacemaking potential of religion. Results from this data set, coupled with an alternative measure of the state's involvement in religion, show that increased Islamization has no discernible impact on lowering support for the ethno-nationalist Kurdish political parties or insurgency.

ObjectiveIn this study we draw on the conflict between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Turkey to explore how exposure to violence can engender support for democracy at the individual level.MethodsWe rely on two nationwide representative surveys carried out in Turkey and estimate a series of ordered logistic and logistic regression models.ResultsWe find that exposure to violence during civil war is a significant predictor of embracing positive attitudes toward democracy. Wartime experiences are associated with a conceptualization of democracy that underscores equality and greater tolerance toward others.ConclusionBeing a member of a repressed minority is not sufficient to explain support for democracy. The link between wartime experiences and holding positive attitudes toward democracy is conditioned by the degree of exposure to violence or which political party is supported.

Previous research has shown that the outcome of a civil war is related to conflict duration: military victory by either the government or the rebels occurs early if it occurs at all, and the longer a civil war lasts, the more likely it is to end in a negotiated settlement. The models of civil war duration and outcome that have produced these findings are built on characteristics of the civil war and less on attributes of the state itself, other than where the state lies on the Polity autocracy-democracy scale. We propose that how civil wars end varies not only between democracies and authoritarian regimes but among the different authoritarian regime types identified by Geddes, Wright, and Franz. The distinguishing attributes of these regime types—democracy, one-party, personalist, military, monarchical—should lead to different likelihood in defeating a rebel movement, being defeated by a rebel movement, and negotiating a peace agreement with a rebel movement. Results from a series of competing-risk models using the Uppsala–Peace Research Institute Oslo Armed Conflict Dataset demonstrate support for our claim that how civil wars end is partly a function of the characteristics of the regime.

This chapter, with a focus on the Kurdish armed conflict in Turkey led by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), demonstrates that conflict dynamics have facilitated a cultural transformation. It explores how religious education, particularly under the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has served the purpose of assimilation of the Kurds. Confrontations between the PKK and Turkish military since the middle of 2015 have added a new wrinkle to three decades of strife. The AKP and its Islamist supporters have long stressed an Islamic brotherhood that emphasizes religious identity over ethnic identity as a cure to the conflict between Turks and Kurds. While religion has often been an instrument of domination and assimilation, armed conflict between Kurdish groups and their respective states has fundamentally transformed traditional Kurdish society. Kurdish demands for equal rights within states dominated by Turks, Persians, or Arabs have historically been dismissed, suppressed, or depicted as a foreign plot to destroy Muslim unity.

Anatomy of a Civil War demonstrates the destructive nature of war, ranging from the physical to the psychosocial, as well as war’s detrimental effects on the environment. Despite such horrific aspects, evidence suggests that civil war is likely to generate multilayered outcomes. To examine the transformative aspects of civil war, Mehmet Gurses draws on an original survey conducted in Turkey, where a Kurdish armed group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been waging an intermittent insurgency for Kurdish self-rule since 1984. Findings from a probability sample of 2,100 individuals randomly selected from three major Kurdish-populated provinces in the eastern part of Turkey, coupled with insights from face-to-face in-depth interviews with dozens of individuals affected by violence, provide evidence for the multifaceted nature of exposure to violence during civil war. Just as the destructive nature of war manifests itself in various forms and shapes, wartime experiences can engender positive attitudes toward women, create a culture of political activism, and develop secular values at the individual level. In addition, wartime experiences seem to robustly predict greater support for political activism. Nonetheless, changes in gender relations and the rise of a secular political culture appear to be primarily shaped by wartime experiences interacting with insurgent ideology.