Kurdish Political Studies Program: Peace Activism in Tumultuous Times

Monday, May 23, 2016

10:30 a.m. to noon

Howard Phillips Hall, Room 302

Turkey, a key country in the Middle East and a NATO member, has been witnessed a spiral of political violence since last summer. Dr.  Halil Ibrahim Yenigün will talk about the country’s nascent peace movement in this context characterized by  an intensified conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish insurgency as well as suicide-bomb attacks by the self-styled Islamic State.

Dr. Yenigün (Ph.D., University of Virginia, 2013) used to teach politics at Istanbul Commerce University until his dismissal for signing a peace declaration earlier this year. He is also a founding member and the general coordinator at Istanbul Think House (Istanbul Düşünce Evi- IDE), a NGO promoting free speech, and the deputy secretary general at MAZLUMDER, one of the most prominent human rights associations in Turkey.