Navigating non-transition: grassroots victim–survivor mobilization and the pursuit of transitional justice in Turkey and Morocco

This article explores the specific implications of aparadigmatic transitional justice contexts for victim-survivor mobilization by bringing together two under-researched cases: Morocco and Turkey. In both countries, victim-survivor groups have emerged as active political actors amid violence and limited or non-existing transitional justice processes. Examining these cases reveals that structural conditions and dynamics in non-transitional settings profoundly impact victim-survivors’ activism, shaping their transitional justice agendas and strategies. It also demonstrates that even in contexts characterized by impunity and limited political change, victim-survivor groups persistently advocate for justice, truth, and non-recurrence, linking their struggle to broader goals like democracy and peace, and innovating and adapting their strategies to navigate a challenging terrain. Drawing on field research with activists involved in the Coordination Committee of the Families of the Disappeared and of Victims of Enforced Disappearance in Morocco, and the Saturday Mothers/People in Turkey, this article provides insights into the complexities of transitional justice in aparadigmatic contexts, emphasizing the pivotal role of grassroots actors in advancing transitional justice, even under adverse conditions. It emphasizes the need to shift the focus away from the state as the primary subject of analysis and instead centre on victim-survivors as strategic political agents. Victim-survivors’ agency, needs, and aspirations should be prioritized to facilitate fundamental change, including community-driven transitional justice efforts.