Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has made an urgent call for peace on the occasion of the launch of QAD Peace Square, a platform dedicated to advancing peace-building efforts through dialogue, research, and public engagement. Demirtaş welcomed the new initiative amid renewed discussions of a possible peace process in Turkey, following visits by a Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party delegation to imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan at İmralı Prison.
“No one can understand the value of peace better than those whose lives have been shattered by the pain and destruction of war. For them, even hearing the word ‘peace’ evokes a bittersweet joy,” Demirtaş said, in his article To the Square, penned behind bars and published 24 January. “Merely wanting peace has never been enough to secure it,” he continued, calling for collective, strategic action. “Those who seek peace must pursue it with the same patience and diligence as those who wage war.”
QAD Peace Square will “create an open environment for dialogue, where ideas are limited only by universal principles, not by borders or prejudices”, Demirtaş said, encouraging individuals and institutions to join its mission for free discussion. “I hope that QAD will become a Hyde Park for all of us,” he added, referring to the famous Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London, emblematic of open dialogue and a democratic exchange of ideas.
Demirtaş also highlighted the necessity of long-term, sustainable solutions. The end of armed conflict, which he terms “political peace”, is only the beginning, he emphasised, while the subsequent phase of societal transformation, which he refers to as “social peace,” is essential for lasting peace. “If a system based on justice, equality, and freedoms is not established after the guns are silenced, peace will always remain fragile,” he warned, urging civil society to take an active role in peace-building.
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QAD Peace Square, an initiative of the Germany-based QAD Peace Studies Association, is published in Kurdish, Turkish, and English, aims to promote inclusive dialogue on issues such as conflict resolution, social justice, and cultural history, with plans to expand its reach to other languages, including German.
