Necmettin Büyükkaya also known as Neco (1943–1984) was a prominent

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 ...

activist and

cadre Cadre may refer to: *Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff *Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...

of the

Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths The Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths (Devrimci Doğu Kültür Ocakları, DDKO) were an association of mainly Kurdish students in Turkey. It was formed in 1969 and forbidden after the military coup in 1971. History In the late 1960s, K ...

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 ...

who was tortured to death in prison.

Biography

Büyükkaya was born in 1943 in the village of Karahan (Dağbaşı) in the Siverek district of

Şanlıurfa Province Şanlıurfa Province ( tr, Şanlıurfa ili; ku, Parêzgeha Rihayê) or simply Urfa Province is a province in southeastern Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. The population is 1,845,667 (2014). The ...

to Kurdish parents and went on to study at the

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

Faculty of Law after graduating high school in

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, ...

. During his studies in Istanbul, he became a member of the Workers' Party and the Federation of Debate Clubs before becoming a prominent member of the Kurdish movement. He co-founded the

together with other Kurdish intellectuals in 1969. After the 1971 military coup, he fled to

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

and became a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party/North. In 1972, he went to

Qamishli Qamishli ( ar, ٱلْقَامِشْلِي, Al-Qāmišlī, ku, قامشلۆ, Qamişlo, syc, ܒܝܬ ܙܠܝ̈ܢ, Bēṯ Zālīn, lit=House of Reeds or syr, ܩܡܫܠܐ, translit=Qamishlo)

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and then

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

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 ...

before returning to Turkey in 1975 after

general amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...

was declared the previous year. In Turkey he continued his Kurdish activism until the 1980 coup d'état when he was jailed and tortured. On 24 January 1984, Büyükkaya was tortured to death at Diyarbakır Prison while on a hunger strike. Letters and other writings of Büyükkaya were collected and published in Sweden in 1992 as the book ''"Kalemimden Sayfalar"''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Büyükkaya, Necmettin 1943 births 1984 deaths People from Siverek Executed Kurdish people Kurdish activists Workers' Party of Turkey politicians Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Prisoners and detainees of Turkey