For Restorative Justice: Dargeçit

November 2023 - July 2024
ANKARA, DIYARBAKIR, ISTANBUL, IZMIR, MARDIN, ŞIRNAK

For Restorative Justice: Dargeçit project was designed as part of the influence campaign of the documentary prepared following the Dargeçit JITEM Case, which was filed as a result of years of struggle by the relatives and lawyers of the seven people who forcibly disappeared in the Dargeçit district of Mardin in 1995. Directed by Berke Baş and produced by Enis Köstepen, shootings of the documentary took place between 2018 and 2022. With its post-production phase having been completed in autumn 2023, the feature-length documentary is intended to become a part of Turkey’s restorative justice practices and be known and embraced by the relatives and lawyers of those who were lost, as well as institutions, rights organizations, academic programs and civil initiatives that work on the rule of law and impunity.

The first activity of the influence campaign, which aims to approach the areas of impunity, human rights and peaceful resolution of the Kurdish conflict with a restorative justice perspective and discuss said perspective with a broader public in the light of the film’s narratives, will be to perform a closed preliminary screening session for the targeted audience in order to determine the audience groups that the ideas of the film can reach, and to carry out a workshop on how the film will be presented. Following said workshops, which will take place in Istanbul and Diyarbakır, a booklet introducing the concept of restorative justice will be prepared in parallel with the story of the film, which will include studies carried out by the Memory Center on the topic. Following preparation of the booklet, which will also be distributed during screening sessions, open screenings will be organized for the documentary in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Diyarbakır, Mardin and Şırnak. The contribution of the film to the restorative justice approach, impunity observed in the forced disappearance files in Turkey and the systematic structure of the violations of right to truth will be underlined during said screening sessions, with participation of the relatives and lawyers of those who were missing, and it will be emphasized that the documentary can be used as an effective tool in the struggle for justice and truth.

Memory Center

Memory Center was established in 2011 to uncover the truth about grave human rights violations committed in the past, to support victims in their search for justice, and to contribute to social peace and democracy by reinforcing social memory about such violations. During establishment, the organization set its focus toward cases of forced disappearance and carried out activities aimed at i) documenting severe human rights violations in accordance with universal standards, ii) following and documenting cases that may set precedents, and iii) informing the mass public on all these severe violations. The shrinkage of the civil space constituting the basis for democratic values and human rights struggle in Turkey has been a factor affecting the focus of the activities of the Memory Center. In 2018, the organization included protection and supporting of human rights defenders into its areas of activity. Within such scope, the Memory Center carries out activities on documentation of human rights violations in accordance with universal standards; follow-up and documentation of cases; informing the mass public on severe human rights violations; and recognition and relief of victimizations.

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This page is published on 8 December 2023.