Başak Demirtaş (born 1977) 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 ...

teacher from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, author, and the wife 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 former leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who she has been campaigning to get released from prison since 2016.

Early life

Başak was born and raised in

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 ...

to a

family. She married Selahattin Demirtaş in 2002. Her husband is a leading democratic opposition leader in Turkey, active in

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

, and minorities rights parties. They have two daughters.

Support of jailed husband

Talking about her husband's arrest by Turkish authorities on November 4, 2016. She told

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

that it had reminded her of her own childhood: "They took my dad away in 1982. We were in Diyarbakır and the police also came in the middle of the night." Başak Demirtaş travels regularly from Diyarbakır to

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 ...

in Turkey's North West to visit her husband. She told the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

that she tried to be her husband's voice outside the prison during the

2018 Turkish Presidential election Presidential elections were held in Turkey on 24 June 2018 as part of the 2018 Turkish general election, 2018 general election, alongside 2018 Turkish parliamentary election, parliamentary elections on the same day. They were the first president ...

, in which he competed as the candidate for the HDP. On 6 June 2018, Selahattin Demirtaş made a campaign speech through his wife's phone from prison. She met with the EU Rapporteur

Kati Piri Kati Piri (born 8 April 1979) is a Hungarian-born Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), she previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) within the Prog ...

in 2018 to advocate for her husband's release. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

she campaigned for the inclusion of the political prisoners into a law which would release thousands of prisoners. She took part in the annual congress of the

Progressive Alliance The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of progressive and social democratic political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Socia ...

in 2019 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, where she received an Award for Political Courage on behalf of her husband Selahattin Demirtaş. In June 2020, she was the target of a sexual threat from a Twitter account, which lead to a wave of solidarity from human rights activists and female politicians. In September 2020, she quit her job as a teacher due to the unpredictable nature of her visits to her husband due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Trial

In November 2021, Demirtaş and her doctor were sentenced to two and half years in jail each, for an inaccurate health certificate. The defense claimed the relevant records, proving the medical examination occurred in the context of heavy medical complications following a pregnancy miscarriage, were not examined by the Turkish court and will appeal the judgment. The defense also claim this process is part of collective punishment and harassment of Turkish opposition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demirtaş, Başak 1977 births Living people Spouses of politicians Turkish educators Turkish women educators Turkish Kurdish people People from Diyarbakır