Dilek Öcalan (born 3 October 1987) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who 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 o ...

for the electoral district of

Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features ...

, Turkey, from 2015 to 2018. She is the niece of Abdullah Öcalan, the

imprisoned Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

leader of 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 sout ...

(PKK) militant organisation that has been in conflict with the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

since the 1980s, making both her candidacy and election to the

Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...

controversial.

Early life

Öcalan was born on 3 October 1987 in Halfeti, Sanlıurfa, as daughter of Fatma Öcalan, the sister of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. She has a tourism degree from university. On 23 December 2013, she visited her uncle at

İmralı prison İmralı prison is an F-Type high security prison on the island of İmralı in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey. It is currently used as a prison for a few prisoners from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and one prisoner of the Communist Party of T ...

and became known to the media after she gave a press statement detailing the conversation between them. Öcalan has been imprisoned since 1999, serving a sentence of aggravated life imprisonment under charges of founding and leading a terrorist organization (namely the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organisation by

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 Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Political career

Öcalan first entered politics in 2012, a year before meeting her uncle on the Island of

İmralı İmralı is a small Turkish prison island in the south of the Sea of Marmara, west of the Armutlu-Bozburun peninsula within Bursa Province. It measures in the north–south direction with a width of , and has an area of . The highest peak is ...

. During the third congress of the pro-Kurdish

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), she was elected to the party executive while the party changed its name to

Democratic Regions Party The Democratic Regions Party ( tr, Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi, DBP, ku, Partiya Herêman a Demokratîk, PHD) is a Kurdish political party in the Republic of Turkey. The pro-minority rights Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) acts as the fraterna ...

(DBP) and adopted a fraternal relationship with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Member of Parliament

Öcalan's candidacy to become a

despite being the niece of Abdullah Öcalan was heavily controversial, drawing strong opposition from

Turkish nationalists 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 ...

. Her candidacy also allegedly caused a split within the Öcalan family. Nevertheless, she was put forward as a HDP candidate for the electoral district of

, being fielded as the second candidate on the HDP's provincial party list. She was subsequently elected in the June 2015 general election to become one of the youngest MPs in the new Parliament, resulting in her being appointed to the temporary Speaker's Council until a new Council could be elected in July. In the snap elections in November 2015 Öcalan was reelected as an MP.

Prosecution

After on 1 February 2017 and arrest warrant was issued for Öcalan she was detained on 7 February and released to the same day. After she left Turkey and went into exile. On 1 March 2018 she was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for spreading terror propaganda during a speech she held at a funeral.

References

External links

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly website

Collection of all relevant news items at Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocalan, Dilek Living people 1987 births Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Democratic Regions Party politicians People from Şanlıurfa Deputies of Şanlıurfa Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Turkish Kurdish politicians Kurdish politicians Turkish Kurdish women 21st-century Kurdish women politicians 21st-century Turkish women politicians Öcalan family