Bengi Yildiz (born 15 November 1965 in

Kozluk Kozluk ( ku, Hezzo) is a district of Batman Province, Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in ...

Batman Province Batman Province ( tr, , ku, Parêzgeha Êlihê) is a province in the Southeast Anatolia Region of Turkey. It was created in May 1990 with the Law No. 3647 taking some parts from the eastern Province of Siirt and some from the southern Province o ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

) was a Member of Parliament of the

Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party ( tr, Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi, ku, Partiya Aştî û Demokrasiyê, BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 20 ...

(BDP) for

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

, Turkey.

Bengi Bengi is a common Turkish given name. It means "eternal", "endless", "never-ending", or "immortal". It is an Oghuz accented version of Bengü which is also a Turkish given name. Compared to Bengü, Bengi has an additional meaning: "a mythical w ...

Yildiz is a lawyer by training, graduating from

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

Law Faculty, and has worked as a journalist for the newspapers Gündem, Demokrasi, Ülkeden

Özgür Gündem ''Özgür Gündem'' ( Turkish for "Free Agenda") was an Istanbul-based daily Turkish language newspaper, mainly read by Kurds. Launched in May 1992, the newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, and was reg ...

. He is a former president of the Batman branch of the

Turkish Human Rights Association The Human Rights Association ( tr, İnsan Hakları Derneği, İHD) is an NGO for advancing Human rights in Turkey, founded in 1986 and headquartered in Ankara. Establishment The İHD's origins can be traced to the victims of the purges in the ...

(IHD). In July 2007, he stood as an independent candidate for the

Democratic Society Party The Democratic Society Party ( tr, Demokratik Toplum Partisi, 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 Soci ...

(DTP) supported Thousand Hopes alliance in the Turkish parliamentary elections and entered the

Turkish Parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

as an MP for Batman, joining the DTP. He was a member of the Turkey EU Joint parliamentary committee. He was re-elected in the 12 June 2011 general election. He is married with two children. On 25 July 2011 he declared that

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

under the control of PKK/BDP would stop paying taxes to the Turkish government. He suggested that PKK/BDP would form a Libyan Jumhuriya type of structure whereby in every neighborhood and city the PKK/BDP supported Kurds would locally organize and abolish political parties to create a "self-determined democratic" autonomy. He furthermore suggested that although PKK/BDP supported Kurds want to be exempt from taxes it is still the responsibility of the Turkish Republic to invest in their infrastructure, roads, schools and pay for their public servants. During his term as MP, he was an outspoken supporter of speaking the Kurdish language. This drew criticism from Turkish Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin from the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

(AKP), reminding him that to speak Kurdish was not allowed according to Article 81 of the Political Parties Law.

References

1965 births Turkish Kurdish people Turkish Kurdish politicians Living people Deputies of Batman Democratic Regions Party politicians Democratic Society Party politicians Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni {{Turkey-politician-stub