Hafiza Merkezi

Hafiza Merkezi (the Truth Justice Memory Centre) was set up by a group of lawyers, journalists and human rights activists in Istanbul in 2011. It initially worked on the enforced disappearances of the 80s and 90s, documenting hundreds of cases and supporting victims groups’s legal advocacy. Using different media (documentary films, publications and social media), it has sought to raise awareness on impunity. Following the collapse of the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the restart of the conflict, the organisation expanded its documentation to violations of the right to life in the 2000s. With Erdogan’s authoritarian turn after 2015 the organisation increased its attention to civic space issues. Since 2019, in partnership with the Boll Foundation, Hafiza Merkezi oversees an EU subgranting mechanism to Turkish civil society.