Özcan Purçu (born 6 May 1977) is a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

politician of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

origin. He is the first ever member of the parliament of Romani heritage in Turkey, elected in 2015.Yinanç, Barçın. "Increased visibility has led to a serious drop in prejudice against the Roma".
'' Hurriyet Daily News'', 16 April 2018)

Private life

Özcan Purçu was born at

Söke Söke is a town and the largest district of Aydın Province in the Aegean region of western Turkey, 54 km (34 miles) south-west of the city of Aydın, near the Aegean coast. It had 121.940 population in 2020. It neighbours are Germencik fro ...

Aydın Province Aydın Province ( tr, ) is a province of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. The provincial capital is the city of Aydın which has a population of almost 200,000 (2012). Other towns in the province include the summer seaside re ...

, where his parents of Romani heritage migrated in the 1950s from

Çanakkale Çanakkale (pronounced ), ancient ''Dardanellia'' (), is a city and seaport in Turkey in Çanakkale province on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the city is 195,439 (2021 estimate). Çanakkale is ...

. He was one of three siblings in the family. He was born and raised in a plastic tent, which was as big as to hold two beds only, and needed to be replaced every three months because torn down. The toilet and the bathroom were outside the tent erected in a Romani neighborhood. Running water had to be supplied from the nearby mosque's fountain. He wove straw baskets to support his family financially while his mother peddled clothes and his father sold baskets. Purçu is married to Gülseren Göl. They have two children, a son and a baby daughter.

Education

With no electricity in the tent, he studied under candle light and street lamp. His parents were not literate, and his father did not want him to get educated rather than he ought to earn money contrary to Özcan's ideal. His father tried to marry off him with a young girl from the neighboring tent. As he rejected to get married, his father beat him, and burned his books and shoes. Özcan was forced to walk to the school in his mother's slippers. He completed his secondary education as the school's best pupil and with honors. He wanted to become a

kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...

, district governor in Turkey as public administrator, because, as he told, every Romani had to apply to the district governor's office, which he believed was the zenith of the state. He studied

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

Uludağ University Uludağ (), the ancient Mysian or Bithynian Olympus (Greek: Όλυμπος), is a mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey, with an elevation of . In Turkish, ''Uludağ'' means "great mountain". In ancient times the range of which it is a part, ext ...

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

and received an undergraduate degree. However, he could not realize his dream as a civil servant. Although successful at the exans for a career at the Military Supreme Administrative Court, he was found not suitable for the position due to his ethnicity.

Politician career

After he realized that he is hindered in a state service career, he devoted himself helping Romani citizens through

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s (NGO), and formed the Aegean Roma Assistance Foundation. Due to his knowledge in

Romani language Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to '' Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their ...

and English, Özcan Purçu was invited to become a representative of Turkish Romani people in the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the E ...

's Romanis and Nomads Forum. During his first meeting in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, he realized to his big surprise that all Romani people speak the same language wherever they come from. In 2001, he stepped into politics as a member of the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

(CHP). Following the start-up an initiative for Romani people, he decided to run for a seat in the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the 2011 general election. In 2009, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the CHP, made him an offer to join the campaign for general elections. Standing at the 11th position for his party's list of candidates in Izmir Province, he failed to get elected. For the June 2015 general election, his rank rose up to 5th in the CHP's candidate list for deputies in Izmir Province. where around 400,000 Romani people are living without being represented not even at regional level. Following his official nomination by the party, he declared that in case of her election into the parliament he will be representing poor and oppressed people but mainly around six million Romani people living in Turkey. He will be in charge of addressing Romani people's housing, education and employment issues there. At the general election on June 7, 2015, he won a seat in the

as a deputy of İzmir Province. He became so the first ever Turkish politician of Romani heritage entering the parliament, a historical milestone in Turkish politics. He is also known as the third Romani politician in a European country's parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purcu, Ozcan 1977 births People from Söke Turkish Romani people Bursa Uludağ University alumni Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Deputies of Izmir Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Romani politicians Living people