Alican Önlü (born 27 December 1967, Nazimye,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) is a Turkish politician of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

origin of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) and a member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

. Throughout his political career he was a politician in a variety of parties such as the Democracy Party (DEP) and the

Democratic Society Party The Democratic Society Party (, DTP, Kurdish: ''Partiya Civaka Demokratîk'', PCD) was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social-democratic and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was c ...

(DTP).

Political career

Önlü is a Kurdish politician of the Alevi faith and has been active in several political parties. Beginning with the People's Labour Party (HEP) he later joined the DEP, the

People's Labor Party The People's Labour Party (, HEP), sometimes translated as the People's Work Party, was a pro- Kurdish political party in Turkey. History It was founded on 7 June 1990 by seven members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly expelled from the ...

(HEP), the

People's Democracy Party People's Democracy Party (, HADEP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003. History Bozlak's first chairmanship Party founder and attorney Murat Bozlak was the part ...

(HADEP), then the

(DTP) and the

Democratic Regions Party The Democratic Regions Party (, DBP, , PHD) is a Kurdish political party in the Republic of Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called Ea ...

(DBP) before he joined the HDP. He was active in the Istanbul branch for the HADEP and the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) in Tunceli. In the parliamentary elections of June 2015 Önlü was elected to the

, representing

Tunceli Tunceli (, , ) is a municipality (belde) in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Zaza majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021. Name During Ottoman times, the settlement was called ''Kalan'' or ''Ma ...

for the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP). He was relelected in the

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

s of November 2015 and also in June 2018.

Prosecution

He was arrested in December 2016 and accused of being involved in the

Kurdistan Communities Union The Kurdistan Communities Union (, KCK) is a Kurdish political organization committed to implementing Abdullah Öcalan's ideology of democratic confederalism. The KCK also serves as an umbrella group for several confederalist political parties o ...

(KCK) which Turkey sees as an extension of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK). He was released in March 2017 pending trial. In a separate case, he was sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment for spreading propaganda for the PKK on terror related charges in February 2019. The KCK case was treated as part of the KCK mail trail and as of September 2019, the case was still ongoing. On the 17 March 2021, the State Prosecutor before the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

of Turkey Bekir Şahin filed a lawsuit before the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

demanding for Önlü and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics. The lawsuit was filed jointly with a request for a closure of the HDP due to the parties alleged organizational links with the PKK.

Personal life

He is married and the father of two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onlu, Alican 1967 births Living people Democratic Society Party politicians People from Nazımiye People's Labor Party politicians Democratic Regions Party politicians Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Kurdish Alevis Turkish Kurdish politicians