Feridun Çelik (born 1966, Kulp,

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, ...

) is

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 ...

–Turkish a former Mayor of Diyarbakır and politician of the

People's Democracy Party People's Democracy Party ( tr, Halkın Demokrasi Partisi, HADEP) was a Kurdish population, Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003. History Bozlak's first chairmanship P ...

(HADEP) and Democratic People's Party (DEHAP).

Biography

He studied law at the Dicle University, from where he graduated in 1987. He began his political career at the People's Labour Party (HEP) and was elected party chair for Diyarbakirır province for the HADEP in 1997. Feridun Celik was also a lawyer of Abdullah Öcalan and was refused the permission to visit him after he was captured an brought to Turkey. As the party chair of HADEP, he was shortly arrested in 1999. But in the same year, with only 33 years of age, he was elected Mayor of Diyarbakır. During his term as Mayor, he advocated for an end of the Kurdish Turkish conflict, and supported the idea of the different nations of Turkey living peacefully together. He supported Kurdish rights and enabled that the

Newroz Newroz or Nawroz ( ku, نەورۆز, Newroz) is the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 21 is the main symbol of Newroz among t ...

festivities, which are an important festivity in the Kurdish culture, were held legally after he asked permission to hold them from the Governor from Diyarbakir. In February 2000 he was arrested together with the mayors of

Siirt Siirt ( ar, سِعِرْد, Siʿird; hy, Սղերդ, S'gherd; syr, ܣܥܪܬ, Siirt; ku, Sêrt) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of Siirt Province. The population of the city according to the 2009 census was 129,188. History P ...

and

Bingöl Bingöl ( diq, Çolig; ku, Çewlik; hy, Ճապաղջուր, translit=Chapaghjur) is a city in Eastern Turkey and the capital of Bingöl Province. Etymology One of the historical names for the city, ''Bingöl'' literally means ''thousand lake ...

, following their meeting with European politicians where they discussed the status of Kurdish rights in Turkey. They were accused of hiring relatives of PKK members in their municipalities. After a few days, he was released with the other mayors. Their arrest caused widespread opposition by politicians of 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 Council of Europe, who accused the Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit to have encouraged the arrest of elected politicians. In March 2003 the HADEP was banned, accused of supporting 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), and Çelik joined the DEHAP. In 2004 Çelik was unsure if to launch a bid for to be the Mayor of Diyarbakır, he wanted to run as an independent with the support of the PKK and against the will of his own party who chose

Osman Baydemir Osman Baydemir (born 1971 in Diyarbakır) is a Turkish politician, lawyer and human rights activist of Kurdish descent. He was the mayor of his home town of Diyarbakır from 2004 to 2014. He was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ...

to be the candidate for the Mayorship of Diyarbakır. After some quarrels, he withdrew his candidacy and Baydemir was free to become the candidate. Following he was a part of the team of attorneys of Öcalan. He was detained on the 26 May 2017, due to an investigation into his activities in the

Democratic Society Congress The Democratic Society Congress (, ) is a pro-Kurdish NGO favouring the implementation of Democratic Confederalism in Turkish politics. Its foundation congress was held between 26-29 October 2007. Structure It has 2 co-chairs, a chairman and ...

, but released pending trial on the 14 June of the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celik, Feridun Kurdish politicians Politicians arrested in Turkey Mayors of Diyarbakır Mayors of places in Turkey 1966 births Living people Dicle University alumni People from Kulp, Turkey Kurdish jurists