This article contributes to the recent literature on ontological security in conflict studies by empirically investigating, through a case study of Turkey’s Kurdish issue, how ontological asymmetry complicates peace processes. Over time, all conflicts become embroiled in a set of self-conceptions and narratives vis-à-vis the Other, the maintenance of which becomes critical for ontological security. In ethnic conflicts, however, these conceptions and narratives also intersect with a fundamental ontological asymmetry, because such conflicts often pit state parties with secure existence against ethnic groups with contested status and illegitimate standing. We argue that peace processes are easier to initiate but harder to conclude in ontologically asymmetric conflicts. Accordingly, we find that during the 2009–2015 peace process in Turkey, ontological (in)security-induced dynamics presented themselves in cyclical patterns of ambitious peace initiatives receiving greater support among the Kurdish public but giving way, at the first sign of crisis, to a rapid and dramatic return to violence, which neither side acted to stem. Moreover, we underscore that ontologically asymmetric conflicts, such as Turkey’s Kurdish issue, are often characterized by a societal security dilemma, where the conditions of ontological security for one party undermine those of the other. Therefore, building consensus around a new shared peace narrative may not be possible or desirable, and a lasting solution to Turkey’s Kurdish issue depends on the development of an agonistic peace around coexisting, multiple and contestatory narratives.

Classical anti-mitotic drugs have failed to translate their preclinical efficacy into clinical response in human trials. Their clinical failure has challenged the notion that tumor cells divide frequently at rates comparable to those of cancer cells in vitro and in xenograft models. Given the preponderance of interphase cells in clinical tumors, we asked whether targeting amplified centrosomes, which cancer cells carefully preserve in a tightly clustered conformation throughout interphase, presents a superior chemotherapeutic strategy that sabotages interphase-specific cellular activities, such as migration. Herein we have utilized supercentrosomal N1E-115 murine neuroblastoma cells as a test-bed to study interphase centrosome declustering induced by putative declustering agents, such as Reduced-9-bromonoscapine (RedBr-Nos), Griseofulvin and PJ-34. We found tight ‘supercentrosomal' clusters in the interphase and mitosis of ~80% of patients' tumor cells with excess centrosomes. RedBr-Nos was the strongest declustering agent with a declustering index of 0.36 and completely dispersed interphase centrosome clusters in N1E-115 cells. Interphase centrosome declustering caused inhibition of neurite formation, impairment of cell polarization and Golgi organization, disrupted cellular protrusions and focal adhesion contacts—factors that are crucial prerequisites for directional migration. Thus our data illustrate an interphase-specific potential anti-migratory role of centrosome-declustering agents in addition to their previously acknowledged ability to induce spindle multipolarity and mitotic catastrophe. Centrosome-declustering agents counter centrosome clustering to inhibit directional cell migration in interphase cells and set up multipolar mitotic catastrophe, suggesting that disbanding the nuclear–centrosome–Golgi axis is a potential anti-metastasis strategy.

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Drawn from focus groups composed of fifty-five Kurdish young people in Diyarbakır, Başer and Çelik's article concerns the young Kurds' description of the Kurdish issue in Turkey and their visions of peace. In recognition of their social and political agency, the article focuses on the Kurdish young people's framing of both the conflict and peace, based on their individual everyday observations and experiences, and seeks to understand how they frame the Kurdish issue by defining the root causes of the conflict and imagining solutions for its resolution, particularly vis-à-vis the dominant frames regarding the Kurdish issue in Turkey.

Although a notable minority orient to real‐world demonstrations by actively participating, other less involved, safer, orientations are more frequent. Thus, in the context of anti‐government demonstrations in Gezi Park/Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2013, we distinguished between the orientations of participating, visiting, and watching. Study 1 (N = 359) and Study 2 (N = 327) confirmed that participating was characterized by greater experience of police violence and feelings of collective empowerment (Drury & Reicher, European Journal of Social Psychology, 35, 2005, 35) than visiting and watching the demonstrations. Expanding upon and replicating the findings from Study 1, Study 2 examined identification with protestors and left‐wing ideology, along with constructs (social support, anger at the government, protestor's efficacy, endorsement of protestors) from the dynamic dual pathway model (van Zomeren et al., Personality and Social Psychology Review, 16, 2012, 180) as predictors of the three different orientations to the demonstrations. As expected, the dynamic dual pathway model predicted reported participation via endorsement of protestors, independent of identification with protestors and left‐wing ideology.

This paper addresses the less researched topic of internal displacement as a human rights issue and analyzes the extent that the transnationalization of human rights issues and the pressures from regional organizations affected the rights of ethnic minorities, particularly internally displaced ethnic groups. In order to shed light on how much state sovereignty on sensitive internal matters can be challenged by regional organizations, the paper examines Turkey's efforts to join the European Community (through membership in the Council of Europe and the European Union) in light of its policies toward its internally displaced Kurdish population. Although the analysis focuses on internal displacement as an issue within this field, it also studies general human rights problems, such as minority rights, cultural rights, and representation of minorities, within the context of Turkey's Kurdish Question.