Burhan Kuzu (1 January 1955 – 1 November 2020) was a Turkish politician of the Justice and Development Party who served as a member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey 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 Const ...

for

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

in the 22nd to 24th and 26th parliaments.

Early life

Burhan Kuzu was born to Ali Rıza Kuzu and his wife Cahide at Şıhlı village of

Develi Develi, formerly known as Averak, is a town and district in Kayseri Province in Central Anatolia Region, Turkey. History The historical name of the town is Everek and it is called ''Averak'' (oren, ruin) in Armenian. The historian, geographer, ...

district in

Kayseri Province The Kayseri Province ( tr, ) is situated in central Turkey. The population is 1,434,357 of which around 1,175,876 live in the city of Kayseri. It covers an area of 16,917 km2 and it borders with Sivas, Adana, Niğde, Kahramanmaraş, ...

on 1 January 1955. The family had nine children. His father, a farmer and village imam died when he was in the primary school, and his mother died when he was in the junior high school. During his high school years, he was interested in theatre. He studied law at Istanbul University. After graduation, he took exams for the profession of judge and district governor. He started an internship for district governor in

Tekirdağ Province Tekirdağ Province ( tr, Tekirdağ ili , ) is a province of Turkey. It is located in the East Thrace region of the country, also known as European Turkey, one of only three provinces entirely within continental Europe. Tekirdağ Province is borde ...

. He preferred a career as an academic when he received an assistant post at the university in 1976. He earned his

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

and

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...

titles from Faculty of Law at Istanbul University. His field of study was

Constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

. Between 1980 and 1982, he conducted research at Faculty of Law in

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

upon a scholarship given by the European Council.

Academic career

In 1996, Kuzu was appointed full professor of the Chair of Constitutional Law at Faculty of Law in Istanbul University. He published papers and books in the field of law. He taught law at the Police College. He was also an academic member of the Faculty of Social Science at

Beykent University Beykent University () is a foundation university in Istanbul, Turkey, teaching in English, Russian combined and Turkish with 29,401 students. Beykent University has agreements with European universities under the Socrates and Erasmus programmes, ...

in Istanbul. He was a guest professor at

Zirve University The Zirve University ( Turkish ''Zirve Üniversitesi'') was a private university established in 2009, located in Gaziantep, southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. The university had eight faculties. It was a mix-oriented (research and education) institut ...

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxi ...

Politician career

Kuzu entered politics as a co-founder of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in 2001. He served as the first chairman of the party's arbitration committee for democracy. At the 2002 general election, he won a seat in the

as a deputy of Istanbul from the AK Party. He kept his seat in the parliament at the 2007 and 2011 general elections. The rule of his party not allowing a parliament membership for more than three terms prevented him from running at the June 2015 general election. Kuzu entered the parliament again after the November 2015 general election. He served as the president of the

Constitutional Commission Many entities have been called a Constitutional Commission with the general purpose of reviewing a constitution, or planning to create one. Afghanistan * Afghan Constitution Commission ** Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (August 2003) * Reigns ...

in the parliament and as such was a vocal opposer of education in the

Kurdish language Kurdish (, ) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish constitutes a dialect continuum, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European languag ...

Private life and death

Kuzu was married with two children. He died on 1 November 2020, at age 65, from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

at Medipol Mega University Hospital where he was treated for nearly two weeks. He was interred at Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery following the religious funeral service held at

Fatih Mosque The large Fatih Mosque ( tr, Fatih Camii, "Conqueror's Mosque" in English) is an Ottoman mosque off Fevzi Paşa Caddesi in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. The original mosque was constructed between 1463 and 1470 on the site of the Ch ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuzu, Burhan 1955 births 2020 deaths People from Develi Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Paris-Sorbonne University alumni Academic staff of Istanbul University Academic staff of Beykent University Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Deputies of Istanbul Members of the 22nd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Burials at Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery