Tuğba Hezer Öztürk (born 4 October 1989,

Erciş Erciş (; ku, Erdiş; hy, Ականց, Akants, historically , ''Arjesh'') is a town and district located in the Van Province, Turkey on Lake Van. History of Artchesh During Classical Antiquity, the town was known as Arsissa, and Archesh (Arč ...

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 ...

) is a Turkish politician from Kurdish descent of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former Member of the

Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...

for of Van.

Education

She studied at the health department of the

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

and law at the

Anadolu University Anadolu University ( tr, Anadolu Üniversitesi) is a public university in Eskişehir, Turkey. The university is known for its success in verbal fields such as history and communication. Its Faculty of Communication Sciences is sometimes considered ...

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

. Following she worked as a teacher.

Political career

She was elected to the Turkish Parliament as a deputy for the province of Van in June 2015 and re-elected in November 2015 as the youngest member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. In November 2016 an arrest warrant was issued for Hezer Öztürk, but she was not detained due to have travelled abroad. She is sought for terror propaganda and having attended funerals of people who fought against the Turkish government. The prosecutor aims for an aggravated life sentence. On the 27 July 2017 the members of the Parliament voted for the dismissal of Hezer Öztürk and Faysal Sarıyıldız from parliament. Both appealed their dismissal but the constitutional court decided to confirm the dismissal from parliament on the 7 September 2017 after having missed over a year at parliamentarian sessions.

Prosecution and exile

After her dismissal from parliament, she left Turkey into exile in Europe. In February 2017 she received the support of the German party Die Linke in her defense. On 5 June 2017, the Turkish interior ministry announced that 130 people who are outside the country while being suspected of militant links will lose their

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

unless they return to Turkey within three months and meet government standards. Amongst the 130 people figured also Tuğba Hezer Öztürk. From her party, she has been given the task to raise awareness from European institutions and politicians towards the human rights violations in south east Anatolia. On the 17 March 2021, the State Prosecutor at the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

of Turkey

Bekir Şahin Bekir Şahin (born 1 March 1960, Mecitözü, Turkey) is a jurist, former judge and the current State Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation in Turkey. Education He was educated at the Imam Hatip school and studied law at the Dokuz Eylül Universi ...

filed a lawsuit at the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

demanding for her and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in Turkish politics together with a closure of the HDP due to their alleged organizational links with 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).

Political positions

She condemns the policies of the Turkish Government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) concerning women and Kurdish politicians. She is also critical to the decision of the Turkish parliament to dismiss her from parliament on grounds that she did not attend the parliament for a year as (according to her) the former prime minister

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as M ...

was only about twice in parliament since he lost his post as prime minister in May 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hezer Ozturk, Tugba People expelled from public office Deputies of Van Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Living people Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey 1989 births Exiled Turkish politicians Turkish women MPs 21st-century Turkish politicians 21st-century Turkish women politicians