Framing Impunity in the Context of State Crime: A Study of Turkish State Criminality Against Kurds (1990- 2000)

This book introduces a new conceptual framework for impunity within state crime theory and uses Turkish state criminality against Kurds between 1990 and 2000 as a case study. It develops an understanding of impunity that goes beyond viewing the state solely as an actor, facilitator, or denier of crime. It argues for an expanded definition of state crime to encompass criminal acts and processes undertaken by states, including impunity.

Building on field research, case analysis, and interviews, this book digs deep into the mechanics of impunity and ways in which the Turkish state has evaded punishment for its criminal acts. In doing so, Framing Impunity in the Context of State Crime uncovers a close connection between the crimes of the government and the impunity which allowed those crimes to flourish. It demonstrates that state violence and impunity are endemic in the structural design of the Turkish state and serve to further both the state goals of ethnic and religious assimilation and the subsequent persecution of those who refused to be assimilated into the new state construction. The book uses Stanley Cohen’s work on states of denial techniques to examine how states justify their illegal acts in order to deny and/or to evade responsibility for their crimes. Cohen’s work on denial at the organisational level is central to the question of impunity because, as a form of state crime, impunity involves various state institutions or actors representing the very state machinery deployed to conceal and deny state criminality.

An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to law students, scholars, researchers, NGOs, and civil society organisations. It will have broader applicability beyond the case study of Turkey and will be valuable to academics and policymakers worldwide who focus on the intersection of state crime and impunity.

Sanya Karakas is a Human Rights Lawyer and Senior Consultant at the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, and Head of the Legal Department at the Democratic Progress Institute.