2015 was indeed a year marked by bombings, attacks, and tragedies like the sinking of refugee boats.
In the midst of this chaos, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey focused its attention on evaluating the peace process, which had stalled after the June 7 elections and then effectively came to an end. However, the end of that year would be vastly different from its beginning.
While Newroz celebrations took place in Diyarbakır and Istanbul, May Day demonstrations and the Pride March were banned. The historic Sur district of Diyarbakır and the town of Cizre were devastated by heavy military operations, and prolonged curfews in the Southeast foreshadowed the state of emergency that would be declared in 2016.
Tahir Elçi, the head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, was tragically killed right beneath the Four-legged Minaret, where he had just uttered the words, "Let the guns be silenced."
Civil society and proponents of democracy were facing an arduous struggle. The challenges of that year would continue to reverberate in the years to come, affecting every aspect of life in the country.
1 – After many years, Ulrike Dufner handed over the directorship to Kristian Brakel. In this photograph, Kristian is with Banu on one of his first days in the office. (hbs) 2 – Suruç, Ankara, Istanbul, and many more. In 2015, bombs, weapons, and violence began to emerge in every corner of Turkey and the world. (FAZ) 3 – Throughout the summer of that year, we witnessed news of refugee boats sinking one after another in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. The Readmission Agreement signed with the EU at the end of the year is still in force. (Bundesregierung/ G. Bergmann) 4 – Relations between the two countries were strained after Turkey shot down a Russian plane. However, after the 2016 coup attempt, Russia and Turkey grew closer than ever. (Sabah) 5 – The Syriza government, which came to power following the crisis in Greece, put the austerity package to a referendum, and the people said “no”. (EPA/Yannis Kollesidis)