Dilan Okcuoglu, PhD Candidate, Department of Cultural Studies, Queen's University

A local (i.e., micro-level) analysis of ethnic conflict and political violence has recently attracted significant interest from researchers. Prior to that, most scholars working in the fields of conflict analysis and security studies have tended to use only macro-level datasets in order to explain the causes of political violence and war. Yet, these studies are likely to avoid many local factors in explaining the cycles of violence, conflict and peace making. In order to fill this gap in the literature, my paper offers new insights on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict by emphasizing local experiences and meanings of violence at the Turkish-Iranian and Turkish-Iraqi borderlands.