Sezgin Tanrıkulu is a Turkish human rights lawyer known for his defense of the rights 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 ...

citizens. He is currently serving as an MP in the Turkish Grand Assembly with the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

(CHP).

Early life and education

Tanrıkulu is from

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, ...

, Turkey. He attended law school in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, graduating in 1984. When he returned to Diyarbakır, he found it under emergency rule by the

Turkish government The Government of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Hükûmeti) is the national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative democracy and a constitutional republic within a pluriform multi-party ...

and its mayor

Mehdi Zana Mehdi Zana (born 20 December 1940 in Silvan) is an author and former Kurdish politician from Turkey. At: "KORT BIOGRAFI ÖVER FÖRFATTAREN OCH POLITIKERN MEHDI ZANA" He is prominent Kurdish political activist a former Mayor of Diyarbakır. Followi ...

, husband of politician

Leyla Zana Leyla Zana (born 3 May 1961) is a Kurdish politician from Kurdish descent. She was imprisoned for ten years for her political activism, which was deemed by the Turkish courts to be against the unity of the country. She was awarded the 1995 Sakha ...

, charged with separatism. Tanrıkulu became involved in Zana's case and soon became a full-time human rights lawyer.

Professional career

He is the co-founder of the Diyarbakır Human Rights Association and the representative of the

Human Rights Foundation of Turkey The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) ( tr, Türkiye İnsan Hakları Vakfı, TİHV) is headquartered in Ankara. The organization is committed to treating torture survivors and documenting human rights violations in daily bulletins, monthly an ...

. He advised the people how to file a case at the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

. He was indicted several times for his legal activities. In 1994, he was charged with "insulting the judiciary" after he appealed a conviction that had relied on a statement extracted by torture. From 1990 to 1995, six of his friends and colleagues were murdered for their work on human rights cases. He was the President of the

Diyarbakır Bar Association The Diyarbakır Bar Association is an organization of lawyers established in the year 1927. It is one of the 81 members of the Turkish Bars Association. Several of its leaders were prosecuted and one of its presidents was assassinated. The curre ...

from 2002 to 2008.

Political career

Sezgin Tanrikulu joined the Republican Peoples' Party (CHP) in 2010, becoming the CHP director of Human Rights and was elected a member of 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 ...

in 2011. He was re-elected each time and currently is still a member of parliament. In parliament he defended the minority rights and the human rights of the prisoners. He is also defender of the press freedom in Turkey, and released a report which criticized the closing down of media outlets and the imprisonment of journalists. He opposed the arrest of the academics for peace who signed a petition urging for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict in 2016. In September 2020, it was reported that Tanrıkulu was appointed the advisor to party chairman Kemal Kılicdaroğlu.

Prosecution

An investigation was launched for degrading the Turkish Republic for his remarks where he made public his opposition towards the Turkish military operation into Syria in October 2019.

Awards

In 1997, he received the

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, was created by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial in 1984, now known as the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights to honour individuals around the world who have shown great courage and have made a significant contr ...

along with fellow attorney Senal Sarihan. This is an award given each year to an individual whose courageous activism is at the heart of the human rights movement and in the spirit of

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

's vision and legacy.

References

External links

*https://twitter.com/MSTanrikulu Living people People from Diyarbakır 20th-century Turkish lawyers Turkish human rights activists Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates 21st-century Turkish lawyers {{Turkey-law-bio-stub