İdris Baluken (born 2 July 1976) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

politician who currently serves as a

parliamentary group leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are th ...

of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) since April 2014. He previously served as a parliamentary group leader for the

Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party (, , BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 2008, following the closure of the latter party for its alleged conne ...

(BDP) from 2012 until the party's MPs joined the HDP in April 2014. He has been a Member of Parliament for the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

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, it is ...

since the June 2015 general election, having previously served as an MP for

Bingöl Bingöl (; ; ), known as Çapakçur before 1944, is a city in Turkey. It is the seat of Bingöl Province and Bingöl District,Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

in 2011 as a means of bypassing the 10%

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various w ...

, Baluken and the other pro-Kurdish Independents that were elected in the election formed the BDP parliamentary group shortly after.

Early life and career

İdris Baluken was born on 2 July 1976 in

Bingöl Bingöl (; ; ), known as Çapakçur before 1944, is a city in Turkey. It is the seat of Bingöl Province and Bingöl District,Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

Faculty of Medicine. He specialised in pulmonary diseases and

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in the Pulmonary Research and Education hospital in

Heybeliada Heybeliada, or Heybeli Ada, () is the second largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul, Turkey. It is officially a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Adalar, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its populatio ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. He worked in a

dispensary A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispense ...

, a state hospital in Bingöl and at the

pulmonary diseases hospital as a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

. He has been involved in the administration of the Turkish Thoracic Society, the

Turkish Medical Association The Turkish Medical Association (, abbreviated as TTB) is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in Turkey. Its membership of 110,000 as of the year 2020, covers 80% of Turkey's doctors.TTBTürk Tabipleri Birliği; Ne ...

and the Health and Social Service Workers Union Diyarbakır branch. He is married and has two children.

Political career

Peace and Democracy Party

Baluken was fielded as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate in the

Bingöl Bingöl (; ; ), known as Çapakçur before 1944, is a city in Turkey. It is the seat of Bingöl Province and Bingöl District,Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc The Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc ( Turkish: ''Emek, Demokrasi ve Özgürlük Bloğu'') was an electoral alliance formed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) with several other smaller left-wing parties and political movements in ...

for the 2011 general election. As a member of the

(BDP), Baluken and several other pro-Kurdish or left-wing politicians fielded as independent candidates within the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc in a joint effort to bypass the 10%

that would be required had the BDP contested the election as a party. He was appointed as a

of the BDP by leader

Selahattin Demirtaş Selahattin Demirtaş (born 10 April 1973) is a Kurdish politician, lawyer and author. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro- Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018. Selahattin Demirt ...

on 22 July 2012 after Hasip Kaplan was removed from the post.

Peoples' Democratic Party

On 28 April 2014, after an agreement between the BDP and the newly formed Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), all but three BDP Members of Parliament left the party to form a HDP parliamentary group instead, with Baluken thereby continuing in office as

for his new party. He was a member of the Imrali delegation of HDP politicians facilitating peace negotiations between the PKK and the Turkish Government which until 28 February 2015 led to the Dolmabahce Statement. He was re-elected as an MP, this time from the

in the June 2015 general election and was re-elected in the November 2015 general election five months later. In January 2016 it was revealed that his wife had been employed by the

Anadolu Agency Anadolu Agency (, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. History The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. As the Empire's capital � ...

(the Turkish state news company) during the peace negotiations between the Turkish government and the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(HDP), in which the HDP acted as a mediator. In June 2016 he voiced disappointment to the lack of a solution in the controversy around the accusations of a forged university certificate from the Turkish president

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep is a Turkish name deriving from the Arabic name Rajab. It may refer to: People Surname * Aziz Recep (born 1992), German-Greek footballer * Sibel Recep (born 1987), Swedish pop singer Given name * Recep Adanır (1929–2017), Turkish fo ...

Legal prosecution

He was taken into custody in Ankara on 4 November 2016, in an operation where HDP-co leaders

and

Figen Yüksekdağ Figen Yüksekdağ Şenoğlu (born 19 December 1971) is a Turkish politician and journalist, who was a former co-leader of the left-wing Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey from 2014 to 2017, serving alongside Selahattin Demirtaş. She was ...

were also detained. Later in the same day, he was arrested on charges of "praising criminals, spreading the propaganda of a terrorist organization, committing crimes on behalf of a terrorist organization whilst not being a member, publicly denigrating the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey and its institutions". He was released on the 30 January 2017, but re-arrested 21 February. On 4 January 2018 Baluken was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison. In prison he began to write and the books ''Üc Kirik Da'' and Oko were published at Dipnot publishing house. On the 17 March 2021, the State Prosecutor to 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 ...

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 Univer ...

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 ru ...

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

(PKK).

References

External links

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly websiteCollection of all relevant news items at Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baluken, Idris 1976 births Living people Turkish Kurdish politicians Ankara University Faculty of Medicine alumni People from Bingöl Turkish surgeons Deputies of Diyarbakır Deputies of Bingöl Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Expelled legislators Turkish prisoners and detainees 21st-century male writers