A Lingering Hope for Peace: The Kurdish Struggle in Turkey

Cihan Sincar holds onto hope that Turkey's efforts to end the Kurdish insurgency will fulfill her late husband Mehmet Sincar's peace dreams. The political conflict has claimed over 40,000 lives since 1984. Meanwhile, Kurdish mothers await the safe return of their children embroiled in this decades-long struggle.

Cihan Sincar clings to the aspiration that Turkey's initiative to resolve its long-standing Kurdish conflict will realize the peace envisaged by her husband, Mehmet Sincar, a lawmaker assassinated during the height of the insurgency. The conflict has cost the lives of over 40,000 people, with many families still yearning for closure and peace.

Mehmet Sincar was gunned down in Batman in 1993 while investigating a series of unsolved political murders. His widow, serving as a mayor in Kiziltepe, remains skeptical even as she cherishes the hope that future generations won't witness the violence that engulfed her past. She remembers her husband fondly for his unwavering quest for peace and democracy.

Despite stalled attempts at reconciliation and ongoing distrust, families like the mothers of youths drawn into the PKK hope for resolution. Many have protested, urging their children to leave militancy. Stories of separation, such as those of Guzide Demir and Rahime Tasci, underscore the profound human toll that reconciliation efforts seek to address.

(With inputs from agencies.)