Ali Kemal Özcan (born 1959)is a Turkish academic and lecturer at the Munzur University in

Tunceli Tunceli (, , ) is a municipality (belde) in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Zaza majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021. Name During Ottoman times, the settlement was called ''Kalan'' or ''Ma ...

. He is known for his research regarding 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) and its leader

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

Education and early life

Özcan was born on the 20 May 1959 in the Kardere village of

Tunceli province Tunceli Province (), formerly Dersim Province (; ; ), is a province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Its central city is Tunceli. The province has a Kurdish majority. Moreover, it is the only province in Turkey with an Alevi majority. ...

in 1959. He attended high school in Elazig, from where he graduated in 1976. He enrolled in to the Faculty of communications of the

Marmara University Marmara University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university, named after the Sea of Marmara, was founded as a university in 1982. However, its ...

where he obtained a B.Sc in 1982. In 1995 he began to study political philosophy at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

from where he obtained a M.Sc in 1997 during which he went and stayed in Damascus for one month (July 1996), and interviewed Abdullah Ocalan in length. And he followed his doctorate study in the same university where he accomplished a Ph.D in sociology in 2003 He followed up on his studies at the University of Munzur (Tunceli/Dersim) in 2010 where he obtained a position –the head of sociology department.

Research on the PKK

He interviewed Öcalan in Syria in 1996, while he was conducting research for his university studies. He attempted at joining the PKK activities in the United Kingdom but not admitted. His findings were included in his masters and doctoral papers.

Professional career

He began to lecture at the Munzur University in 2010, where he was active in several positions most notably as the head of the Department of Sociology, which he remains. Besides, he has authored several books concerning the PKK.

On the Kurdish issue

He was involved in the

parliamentary 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 ...

discussion on the peace process between the PKK and Turkey in 2013 and met Öcalan twice in Imrali prison, before the mayoral elections of Istanbul in June 2019 following which he read out a letter in which Öcalan shall have recommended the HDP to remain neutral during the elections. He is supportive of Abdullah Öcalans role in the peace process but critical of the one of

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 ...

, the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) at the time of the peace process.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozcan, Ali Kemal Living people 1959 births Turkish academics Alumni of the University of Kent Istanbul University alumni People from Tunceli Province