Ali Haydar Konca (born 1 February 1950) 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 who served as the Minister of European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator in the interim election government led by

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as M ...

between 28 August and 22 September 2015. He served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

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 Kocaeli from June to November 2015. He is a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and is a former civil servant and

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 ...

(sub-governor).

Early life and career

Ali Haydar Konca was born on 1 February 1950 in

Varto Varto (, ku, Gimgim, grc-x-medieval, Barzanissa) is a town and district in Muş Province, Turkey. The population of Varto city is around 13,000 with another 17,000 living in the villages. The largest population from Varto in Europe is in Berlin ...

Muş Province Muş Province ( tr, Muş ili, Armenian: Մուշի մարզ, ku, Parêzgeha Mûşê) is a province in eastern Turkey. It is 8,196 km2 in area and has a population of 406,886 according to a 2010 estimate, down from 453,654 in 2000. The provin ...

. He 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 Law and entered an exam to become a

in 1972. He subsequently became the Entourage Officer of

Elazığ Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. It is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plain on which the city extends has an altitude of . El ...

and later served as the Kaymakam of numerous

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

until the 1980 coup d'état. Two months after the coup, he returned to office as the Kaymakam of the districts of Hassa,

Çüngüş Çüngüş ( ota, چونکوش, ku, Çêngûş) is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. According to Turkish government statistics, its population is 11,927 as of 2018. Çüngüş was an Armenian bishopric an Armenian Church was construc ...

and

Sürmene Sürmene (Greek: Σούρμενα, ''Sourmena''; ota, ﺳﻮرﻣﻨﻪ, romanized as ''Sürmena e') is a small town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. In ancient times the town of Hyssus or Hyssos ( grc, Υσσ� ...

. He was later appointed as the Manager of Legal Affairs to the Governor of Kocaeli. He later resigned from this position to become a freelance lawyer. Konca is a member of the High Education Association, Association of Contemporary Lawyers and the Kocaeli Vartoians Association. He is an honorary member of the Kocaeli Medical Chamber.

Political career

Konca was elected as a municipal councillor from the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in the 1989 local elections. However, he later resigned from his position and his party. In the June 2015 general election, Konca became the top candidate on the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli list. He was elected after the overseas votes (in which the HDP achieved almost double their nationwide vote share) were added to the vote tally in Kocaeli, resulting in the MHP losing a seat and the HDP gaining a seat. Konca lost his seat in the November 2015 general election, in which he stood again as the HDP's first preference candidate in Kocaeli.

Minister of European Union Affairs

Konca was one of the three HDP Members of Parliament offered a role in the interim election government that was formed by Prime Minister

after President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

called for a new election in November 2015. The HDP, with 80 MPs in Parliament, was entitled to three Ministries in the interim election government, which will oversee the November 2015 election. In the ministerial appointments confirmed on 28 August 2015, Konca was appointed as the Minister of European Union Affairs and concurrently serves as the Chief Negotiator in the Turkish EU membership negotiations. While serving as a Minister, Ali Haydar Konca stated that in 1915, a massacre of

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

took place in what it known as the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

. Konca was subsequently prosecuted for allegedly spreading a libelous and hateful message.

Resignation

On 22 September 2015, Konca and the other HDP cabinet minister

Müslüm Doğan Müslüm Doğan (born 15 October 1959) is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin who served as the Minister of Development in the interim election government formed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on 28 August 2015. He was elected as a Memb ...

submitted their resignations to Prime Minister

, who accepted and stated that he would appoint their replacements as a matter of urgency. In a press conference shortly after submitting their resignations, the two ministers stated that they had resigned due to disagreements in the interim election cabinet and accused the AKP of ignoring the democratic will of the people to instead create a 'concept of war' in the south-east. They also condemned the AKP's involvement in the dissolution of the

Solution process Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Solutio ...

between the 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 ...

(PKK) and accused President

of violating the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

during the government-forming process. Konca was succeeded as European Union Affairs Minister by academic

Beril Dedeoğlu Hatice Beril Dedeoğlu (9 December 1961 – 13 March 2019) was a Turkish academic who served as the Minister of European Union Affairs in the interim election government led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu between 22 September and 17 Novemb ...

References

External links