Feleknas Uca (born 17 September 1976) is a Turkish politician of

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 ...

descent. From 1999 to 2009, she was member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

from Germany, serving with

Die Linke The Left (german: Die Linke; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party (german: Die Linkspartei, links=no ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of th ...

. Feleknas Uca was at one time the world's only

Yazidi Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The majo ...

parliamentarian until the Iraqi legislature was elected in 2005. In June 2015, she was elected 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 of ...

in Turkey representing

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

Life and work

Feleknas Uca was born in

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

, Lower Saxony,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

to an immigrant

family originally from Turkey. She graduated from

Comprehensive School A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

before taking an apprenticeship as a doctor's assistant, and completed her ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' by distance learning. In 2010 she established the Feleknas Uca Foundation which focuses of the women and children rights. Uca was also the local spokesperson for representative of

Terre des Femmes Terre des Femmes (French, translation: Women's Earth) is a German non-profit-organisation committed to human rights for girls and women. The vision of the organisation is a world in which all people are equal, independent and free, irrespective of ...

. Until July 2014, Feleknas Uca lived in Celle until she relocated to Diyarbakir in Turkey.

Political career

In Europe

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, aged 22, she was elected to the European Parliament fifth of six places on the Party of Democratic Socialism national list. In the 5th European Parliament (1999–2004), she sat on the Parliament's committees on Culture, Education and the Media and Equal Opportunities. She maintained close links with pro-Kurdish groups in

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 ...

. She was a member of the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee. In the PDS' selection of candidates for elections to the 6th European Parliament (2004–2009), Uca slipped to seventh place on the PDS national list, putting her seat under severe pressure. However, in the elections, she was returned in the last successful place. While serving in the European Parliament, she attracted controversy within Turkey for her pro-Kurdish stances. In 2005, the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) was investigated by Turkish police for a speech given by Uca in the Kurdish language in which she called for the decrease of the electoral threshold from 10%, declare a general amnesty and suspend all military actions. In 2009, Uca left the European Parliament. In 2012, she was detained in Turkey's Istanbul Airport for attempting to take a large number of B-1 vitamins to Kurdish prisoners in Turkish prisons and was deported to Germany.

In Turkey

In July 2014, Uca resettled to Diyarbakır, the largest

populated city in

. On 7 April 2015, Uca was nominated by the HDP to their electoral list for the upcoming parliamentary election as one of a number of Yazidis running for office. In the general elections on 7 June 2015 and 1 November 2015 she was elected a 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 Consti ...

, both times representing the HDP for Diyarbakir. Turkish press reports write that she is the first ever Yazidi member of the Assembly along with

Ali Atalan Ali Atalan (born 5 January 1968 in Midyat) is a Kurdish-German politician of Yazidi faith. He is a former member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia with Die Linke in Germany, and the Turkish Parliament with the Peoples' Democratic Party ( ...

. In May 2016, her parliamentary immunity was lifted, which was condemned by several European politicians. She was re-elected in the Parliamentary Elections on 24 June 2018.

Political positions

Kurdish politics

She was a member of the MP delegation in march to Cizre during the Curfew of Cizre in 2015. She is a supporter of the use of the Kurdish language, and opposes the prohibition of theater plays, events in the Kurdish language and the detention of people who teach in Kurdish language. She supports the co-chair system implemented in the municipalities governed by the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and condemns the fact that the state appointed trustees assumed as acting mayors instead of the elected mayors of the BDP.

Foreign politics

She is a member of the EU-Turkey partner delegation for Turkey and the co-spokesperson for foreign relations of the HDP. She supports the autonomous Government in

Syrian Kurdistan Syrian Kurdistan is a Kurdish-inhabited area in northern Syria surrounding three noncontiguous enclaves along the Turkish and Iraqi borders: Afrin in the northwest, Kobani in the north, and Jazira in the northeast. Syrian Kurdistan is often ...

led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD). She is also grateful to 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 south ...

(PKK) for their defense of the Yazidi against the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(IS) in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Legal prosecution

In 2017 she was prosecuted for spreading terror propaganda. The State Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation in Turkey Bekir Şahin filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court on the 17 March 2021, demanding for Uca and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban for political activities. The lawsuit was filed together with a request for the HDP to be shut down due to the parties alleged organizational links with the PKK.

Personal life

She is prepared to be detained in any moment and keeps a packed suitcase ready with her belongings in the case of an arrest.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uca, Feleknas 1976 births 20th-century women MEPs for Germany 21st-century women MEPs for Germany Deputies of Diyarbakır German people of Kurdish descent German Yazidis 21st-century Kurdish women politicians Living people Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey MEPs for Germany 1999–2004 MEPs for Germany 2004–2009 People from Celle Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians The Left (Germany) MEPs 21st-century Turkish women politicians Turkish Yazidis Yazidi women