Kemal Burkay (1937, Kizilkale,
Mazgirt
Mazgirt (from hy, Մեծկերտ, ''Medzgerd'', literally "big town", ku, Mêzgir), is a small city and its surrounding district in Tunceli Province of Turkey. The city has a population of 1,712, most of which are Alevi. The current mayor is Mura ...
,
Tunceli) is a writer and politician.
Biography
He attended his primary education in Tunceli and graduated from
Ankara University, Law School in 1960.
Political career
In 1965 he joined the
''Türkiye İşçi Partisi''. Due to an article published in 1966, he was jailed in prison. Following the
coup d'état in 1971 most of the Kurds who were politically involved were detained. Burkay was imprisoned for one year, and after a new arrest warrant surged,
Burkay went into exile to
Germany in 1972.
In 1974, Burkay was involved prominently in the establishment of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (TKPS) which published the magazine ''
Özgürlük Yolu'' between 1975 to 1979. ''Özgürlük Yolu'' was to become an influential magazine for the Kurdish politicians at the time. In 1980, just ahead of the
coup d' etat of the military, he left
Turkey and settled in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.
In 1993, then the head of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan, he was interviewed for 18 days together with
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish and Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Öcalan was based in Syria from ...
by the journalist
Oral Çalışlar
Oral Çalışlar (born 14 December 1946, Tarsus) is a Turkish journalist and writer, currently columnist for ''Radikal'' and '' Serbestiyet'', after briefly working as editor-in-chief of ''Taraf''. He was previously a columnist for ''Cumhuriyet'' ...
. The interview was then published in the
Cumhuryet and later in booklet, which caused quite some controversies in Turkish politics as the publication of the booklet was banned. Burkay supported the
ceasefire announced by 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) on 17 March 1993. He signed an agreement for future cooperation with Öcalan on the 19 March 1993. In 2011, he returned from his exile in Sweden after the government of the
Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being:
* Justice and Development Party (Morocco)
* Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
Justice and Development Party may also refer to:
* Justice and Dev ...
(AKP) improved the situation for the Kurdish movement
and in 2012 he was elected as the president of
HAK-PAR, a party which advocates for the improvement of the situation of the Kurdish population in Turkey.
Personal life
He is married and father to 5 children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkay, Kemal
Turkish Kurdish politicians
Living people
1937 births
People from Mazgirt
Kurdish writers
Ankara University Faculty of Law alumni
Exiled politicians