İdris Baluken (born 2 July 1976) 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 Kurdish origin who currently serves as a parliamentary group leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) since April 2014. He previously served as a parliamentary group leader for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) from 2012 until the party's MPs joined the HDP in April 2014. He has been a Member of Parliament for the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

of Diyarbakır since the June 2015 general election, having previously served as an MP for Bingöl from 2011 to 2015. Initially elected as an Independent in 2011 as a means of bypassing the 10% election threshold, Baluken and the other pro-Kurdish Independents that were elected in the election formed the BDP parliamentary group shortly after.

Early life and career

İdris Baluken was born on 2 July 1976 in Bingöl and graduated from

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

Faculty of Medicine. He specialised in pulmonary diseases and Tuberculosis in the Pulmonary Research and Education hospital in Heybeliada, İstanbul. He worked in a

dispensary A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispen ...

, a state hospital in Bingöl and at the Diyarbakır pulmonary diseases hospital as a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

. He has been involved in the administration of the Turkish Thoracic Society, the Turkish Medical Association and the Health and Social Service Workers Union Diyarbakır branch. He is married and has two children.

Political career

Peace and Democracy Party

Baluken was fielded as an Independent candidate in the

of Bingöl by the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc for the 2011 general election. As a member of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Baluken and several other pro-Kurdish or left-wing politicians fielded as independent candidates within the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc in a joint effort to bypass the 10% election threshold that would be required had the BDP contested the election as a party. He was appointed as a parliamentary group leader of the BDP by leader Selahattin Demirtaş on 22 July 2012 after

Hasip Kaplan Hasip Kaplan (born 1 January 1954, Dirsekli, İdil, Dirkseli, İdil District, İdil, Turkey) a Kurds in Turkey, Turkish politician of Kurdish origin and former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for several parties, in 2015 he repre ...

was removed from the post.

Peoples' Democratic Party

On 28 April 2014, after an agreement between the BDP and the newly formed Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), all but three BDP Members of Parliament left the party to form a HDP parliamentary group instead, with Baluken thereby continuing in office as parliamentary group leader for his new party. He was a member of the Imrali delegation of HDP politicians facilitating peace negotiations between the PKK and the Turkish Government which until 28 February 2015 led to the Dolmabahce Statement. He was re-elected as an MP, this time from the

of Diyarbakır in the June 2015 general election and was re-elected in the November 2015 general election five months later. In January 2016 it was revealed that his wife had been employed by the Anadolu Agency (the Turkish state news company) during the

peace negotiations A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surre ...

between the Turkish government and the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(HDP), in which the HDP acted as a mediator.

Legal prosecution

He was taken into custody in Ankara on 4 November 2016, in an operation where HDP-co leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ were also detained. Later in the same day, he was arrested on charges of "praising criminals, spreading the propaganda of a terrorist organization, committing crimes on behalf of a terrorist organization whilst not being a member, publicly denigrating the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey and its institutions". He was released on the 30 January 2017, but re-arrested 21 February. On 4 January 2018 Baluken was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison. In prison he began to write and the books ''Üc Kirik Da'' and Oko were published at Dipnot publishing house. On the 17 March 2021, the State Prosecutor to the Court of Cassation Bekir Şahin filed a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court for him and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics together with a closure of the HDP due to their alleged organizational links with the

(PKK).

References

External links

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly websiteCollection of all relevant news items at Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baluken, Idris Living people 1976 births Turkish Kurdish politicians Ankara University alumni People from Bingöl Turkish surgeons Deputies of Diyarbakır Deputies of Bingöl Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey People expelled from public office Turkish prisoners and detainees Politicians arrested in Turkey 21st-century male writers