Performing public confessions avowal and disavowal of state violence in Turkey Yesim Yaprak Yildiz

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yıldız, Yeşim Yaprak, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Confession (Law)--Turkey.

Confession (Law).

Criminals--Turkey--Public opinion.

Criminals.

Political violence--Turkey.

Political violence.

State-sponsored terrorism--Turkey.

State-sponsored terrorism.

Criminals--Public opinion.

Turkey.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Other Title:

Avowal and disavowal of state violence in Turkey

Place of Publication:

Columbia University Press (Lightning Source), 2026.

New York Columbia University Press [2026]

Summary:

It is widely thought that confessions from perpetrators of state violence promote accountability, reconciliation, and justice. Performing Public Confessions offers a challenge to this view through a critical examination of perpetrators' narratives, analyzing them as performances that shape public perceptions of state violence and responsibility. With a focus on Turkey, this book develops new insights into the performative aspects of confessions and what they reveal about the dominant social, moral, and political order. Yeşim Yaprak Yıldız explores public confessions by Turkish state actors implicated in atrocities against Kurds during the 1990s, showing that their accounts often function to obscure rather than clarify responsibility. Through close readings of perpetrators' rhetorical strategies, audience reactions, and media representations, she demonstrates that confessions are rarely straightforward admissions of guilt. Instead, they frequently perpetuate mechanisms of denial, silence, evasion, and disavowal, normalizing atrocities, reinforcing impunity, and masking the structural nature of state violence. Yıldız argues that perpetrators' narratives, when placed in their social contexts, illuminate the underlying moral and political frameworks that govern Turkish society. Bringing together theoretical reflections with rich analysis of case studies, this book uncovers the political and ethical limitations of public confessions

Contents:

Frontmatter Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction ONE Performing Public Confessions TWO State Violence, Public Secrets, and Denial in 1990s Turkey THREE Remorse and Responsibility FOUR Justifying Violence FIVE Cynicism, Complacency, and Complicity in Turkey Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from digital title page (JSTOR platform, viewed June 22, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version Yıldız, Yeşim Yaprak. Performing public confessions

ebook version :

ISBN:

9780231564151

0231564155

9780231565493

0231565496

OCLC:

1585502352

Publisher Number:

CIPO000365495

CIPO000365482

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license