Remember, S/He Was Here Once

This article analyzes the construction of motherhood as a form of political agency in Turkey with particular references to the Saturday Mothers and the Peace Mothers, respectively, the mothers of the disappeared and the mothers of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters. Interviews with the mothers of soldiers will also be part of the final analysis. Focusing on these three organizations, the article answers the following questions: (1) How has the conflict between the military/paramilitary forces and oppositional organizations transformed the lives of some ordinary women across the country? (2) How have some sociopolitically marked and wounded women perceived the state and responded to its violence through the identity of motherhood? (3) To what extent can the power of motherhood activism, which derives from the sharing of personal experiences in the public domain as an expression of collective traumas and silenced pasts, contribute to peace building in Turkey?