Fatma Kurtulan (* 1 March 1964,

Kahramanmaras Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahrama ...

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 ...

) is a Turkish Kurd politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey. After graduating from

Pazarcık Pazarcık is a town and district in the southern part of Kahramanmaraş Province in Turkey. The mayor Hayrettin Güngör from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was elected in the local elections 2019. Kaymakam is Adil Nas. The cement plan ...

high school, Kurtulan worked on social projects in the Küçükdikili municipality in

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart ...

. A former president of the women's branch of People's Democracy Party (HADEP), in July 2007, Kurtulan stood as an independent candidate 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 ...

(Grand National Assembly of Turkey). She then joined the Democratic Society Party (DTP). On 9 November 2007 the Turkish chief public prosecutor launched an investigation into her activities, after she visited Iraq with two other DTP politicians to obtain the release of eight Turkish soldiers held by

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) forces. The prosecutor requested that the Turkish Parliament remove the

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians such as president, vice president, governor, lieutenant governor, member of parliament, member of legislative assembly, member of legislative council, s ...

of all three MPs. In the same month she admitted being married to a PKK member, adding that her husband, Samlan Kurtulan, who the media reported to be in a PKK guerilla camp in northern Iraq, had been away for 13 years and that she remained married only on paper. In May 2009 she called for an investigation into police violence against children. In January 2012 she was arrested in connection with the KCK trials and subsequently sentenced to 10 Months in prison in April 2012 She was a candidate for the HDP in the Parliamentary Election 2018 and was elected MP for

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

External links

Official website of the HDP

References

1964 births Turkish Kurdish politicians Living people Deputies of Van Democratic Regions Party politicians Democratic Society Party politicians Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey 21st-century Turkish women politicians Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey People's Democracy Party politicians People from Kahramanmaraş {{Turkey-politician-stub