Kurdish Alevis in the Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process: Reflections on Conducting Research in Turkey’s “Buffer Zone”

Abstract

This chapter focuses on conducting research in the buffer zone of a conflict and is based on fieldwork I conducted in 2014 on the perceptions of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and peace process among Kurdish Alevis. I was part of a research team collecting data in what is locally referred to as the buffer zone of the Kurdish conflict, as it is the region that borders the predominantly Kurdish region of the country and where most of the violence of the conflict occurred. At the same time, participants recognized their place in the conflict as a group that is both included and excluded at the same time. The research focuses on Kurdish Alevis, who are an ethnic minority as well as a religious minority in Turkey. As such, they are not fully accepted among Kurds, Alevis, or in Turkey as a whole. At a time when the government was making attempts at reconciliation, Alevis – and even Kurdish Alevis – felt left out of the process, and wondered what their role was in both the conflict and in peace negotiations. Through this chapter, I reflect on conducting research in a buffer zone, and discuss how multiple identities influence data collection, perceptions of conflict, and collective victimhood, and how these factors influenced the research.