Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı (born in

Siverek Siverek (; ; ) is a municipality and district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 3,936 km2, and its population is 267,942 (2022). Siverek is in the Şanlıurfa province but is geographically closer to the large city of Diyarbakır (a ...

, 1963) is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and former member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

and Mayor of Diyarbakir.

Early life and education

When Mızraklı was three years old his family moved to

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 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

due to his father's work. He attended the primary and secondary school in Eskişehir. After completing his studies at the faculty of medicine, he began working as a doctor in Diyarbakir in 1991. He worked as a surgeon and was involved in the Medical Chamber. He was also active in the

Democratic Society Congress The Democratic Society Congress (, ) is a pro-Kurdish NGO favouring the implementation of Democratic Confederalism in Turkish politics. Its foundation congress was held on 26–29 October 2007. Structure It has 2 co-chairs, a chairman and a ch ...

(DTK) since 2000. Due to his involvement in the DTK, he was arrested for 2 months in 2017.

Political career

In the General Elections of the 24 June 2018 he was elected to represent Diyarbakir as an MP. In the Municipal election of the 31 March 2019 he was elected as Mayor of Diyarbakir with 62.93% of the votes. He became well known amongst the opposition as he made public a luxury suite in Diyarbakir Municipality which was built before he took office. Due to political pressure, he was dismissed as the Mayor of Diyarbakir on 19 August 2019. The population of Diyarbakir protested for weeks against this decision.

Legal prosecution

Mızraklı was detained on the 21 October 2019 and charged with being a member of terror organization. The prosecution alleged that Mizrakli had attended funerals of PKK members and that he shall have performed surgery for an alleged member of 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 ...

(PKK).

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

stated that "the evidence in an indictment against him does not support the charge that he was involved with terrorism or committed crimes." On the 9 March 2020 he was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months imprisonment for membership in a terror organization. He was accused of terror propaganda since April 2020 in an additional case. In that case, the prosecution saw his participation in meetings organized by the HDP or his activism against the execution of Ramin Hossein-Penahi in Iran as terror propaganda. In September 2021 he was acquitted.

Detention conditions

Initially being detained in a prison in Diyarbakir, he was transferred away of his hometown from the prison in Diyarbakir in Southeast Anatolia to a prison facility in

Kayseri Kayseri () is a large List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea (Mazaca), Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since anc ...

in central Anatolia. He is one of several elected mayors of the HDP, currently in detention in Turkey. In February 2022 and at his own request, he was transferred to the

F-type prison F-Type-Prisons, officially called F-type High Security Closed Institutions for the Execution of Sentences (''F tipi cezaevi / F Tipi Yüksek Güvenlikli Kapalı Ceza İnfaz Kurumu''), are high-security closed prisons designated by Turkish Law 5275 ...

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

, the same prison in which

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 ...

is imprisoned.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mizrakli, Adnan Selçuk Living people 21st-century mayors of places in Turkey Kurdish politicians 1963 births People from Siverek Kurdish physicians Mayors of Diyarbakır People expelled from public office Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Turkish prisoners and detainees