This paper examines the local memory practices of the Kurdish activists in Turkey within the critical transitional justice (TJ) theory. In recent years, mainstream TJ has been criticized because of its top-down and state-centric approach.TJ processes have sometimes failed to, at least, contribute to positive peace and reconciliation. Thus, "local turn" in TJ has inevitably emerged to discover more sensitive mechanisms to the cultural and political context. Agency plays a key role in this inquiry.
I use and combine two important topics from the critical TJ theory. One is memorialization and memory politics as an essential aspect of TJ to recover the historical truth. The other is agency in TJ. Local actors who are mostly unseen have created their own memory spaces by struggling against the state's dominant memory politics in the context of conflict.
During the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, local actors (victims, peace activists, and local politicians) have struggled for remembering against the state's denial of the Kurdish identity. In a way, this fact leads people to build their own bottom-up memory places and initiatives. I conducted expert interviews to analysis the Kurdish actors' memory activism against the Turkish state in the Kurdish cities. Based on my findings, I describe the forms of memory work and discuss the actors' perception of memory as a justice struggle. Followingly, I argue that the sharp crash between the counter-memory and the formal memory has a strong position in dealing with the past in Turkey. At the same time, it provides possibilities for a deep understanding of the meaning of memory from the bottom-up level.
Consequently, this paper explores the work for creating alternative practices and the "agency" under the current authoritarian regime in Turkey. It aims to discuss bottom-up memory initiatives and its meaning with prospects for dealing with the past. Furthermore, I aim to discuss memory activism and the state's response to it within the field of TJ in ongoing conflict.
