The Logic of Reconciliation: Between the Right to Compensation and the Right to Justice in Turkey

This article analyses the processes and outcomes associated with legal reforms designed to provide restorative justice in the context of contemporary Turkey. Focusing on the practices and discourses associated with the Compensation Law, it explores both state practices and the survival mechanisms of Kurdish citizens living in the conflict zone. The article shows that the Compensation Law did not transform the relationship between the state and Kurdish citizens. Rather, it reproduced the symbolic and material relationships that historically and politically had been based on bribery, disavowal, abuse, and subversion.