Özcan Purçu (born 6 May 1977) is a Turkish politician of
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin
** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities
** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom
* Romanians (Romanian ...
Söke
Söke is a municipality and district of Aydın Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,064 km2, and its population is 123,301 (2022). It is the largest district of Aydın Province by area. Söke is 54 km (34 miles) south-west of the city of AydÄ ...
,
Aydın Province
Aydın Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. Its area is 8,116 km2, and its population is 1,148,241 (2022). T ...
, where his parents of Romani heritage migrated in the 1950s from
Çanakkale
Çanakkale is a city and seaport in Turkey on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. It is the seat of Çanakkale Province and Çanakkale District. which was as big as to hold two beds only, and needed to be replaced every three months because torn down. The toilet and the bathroom were outside the tent erected in a Romani neighborhood. Running water had to be supplied from the nearby mosque's fountain. He wove straw baskets to support his family financially while his mother peddled clothes and his father sold baskets.
Purçu is married to Gülseren Göl. They have two children, a son and a baby daughter.
Education
With no electricity in the tent, he studied under candle light and street lamp. His parents were not literate, and his father did not want him to get educated rather than he ought to earn money contrary to Özcan's ideal. His father tried to marry off him with a young girl from the neighboring tent. As he rejected to get married, his father beat him, and burned his books and shoes. Özcan was forced to walk to the school in his mother's slippers. He completed his secondary education as the school's best pupil and with honors.
He wanted to become a
kaymakam
Kaymakam, also known by #Names, many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been reta ...
, district governor in Turkey as a public administrator, because, as he told, every Romani had to apply to the district governor's office, which he believed was the zenith of the
state. He studied
public administration
Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...
at
UludaÄŸ University
Uludağ (), the ancient Mysian or Bithynian Olympus (Greek: Όλυμπος), is a mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey, with an elevation of .
In Turkish, ''UludaÄŸ'' means "great mountain". In ancient times the range of which it is a part, ex ...
in
Bursa
Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...
and received an undergraduate degree. However, he could not realize his dream as a civil servant. Although successful at the exams for a career at the Military Supreme Administrative Court, he was found not suitable for the position due to his ethnicity.
Politician career
After he realized that he was hindered in a state service career, he devoted himself to helping Romani citizens through
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
s (NGO), and formed the Aegean Roma Assistance Foundation.
Due to his knowledge in
Romani language
Romani ( ; also Romanes , Romany, Roma; ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani people. The largest of these are Vlax Romani language, Vlax Romani (about 500,000 speakers), Balkan Romani (600,000), and Sinte Roma ...
and English, Özcan Purçu was invited to become a representative of Turkish Romani people in the
European Council
The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...
's Romanis and Nomads Forum. During his first meeting in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, he realized to his big surprise that all Romani people speak the same language wherever they come from.
In 2001, he stepped into politics as a member of the
Republican People's Party
The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...
(CHP). Following the start-up of an initiative for Romani people, he decided to run for a seat in the
parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (; born 17 December 1948), also referred to by his initials KK, is a Turkish politician who served as the Leader of the Republican People's Party, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from 2010 to 2023. He was Lis ...
, leader of the CHP, made him an offer to join the campaign for general elections. Standing at the 11th position for his party's list of candidates in Izmir Province, he failed to get elected.
For the June 2015 general election, his rank rose to 5th in the CHP's candidate list for deputies in Izmir Province. where around 400,000 Romani people are living without being represented not even at the regional level. Following his official nomination by the party, he declared that in case of her election into the parliament, he would be representing poor and oppressed people but mainly around six million Romani people living in Turkey. He will be in charge of addressing Romani people's housing, education, and employment issues there.
At the general election on June 7, 2015, he won a seat in the
parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
as a deputy of Ä°zmir Province. He became the first ever Turkish politician of Romani heritage to enter the parliament, a historical milestone in Turkish politics. He is also known as the third Romani politician in a European country's parliament.