Canan Kaftancıoğlu (born 3 February 1972) is a Turkish physician and politician. She was until 2023 the president 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 ...
's (CHP) in
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 ...
. In September 2019, she was sentenced to 9 years and 8 months imprisonment for insulting the president and terrorism related charges but after an appeal by the CHP, 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 ...
reduced her sentence to over 4 years and 11 months in May 2022. The Turkish government under President
Tayyip ErdoÄŸan
Tayyip () is a Turkish given name for males. Tayyip may refer to:
* Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan (born 1954), Turkish politician, and Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey from 2003 to 2014, and current President of Turkey since 2014
*Tayyip Talha Sa ...
's administration put her on trial for tweeting about the
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
Nâzım Hikmet
Mehmed Nâzım Ran (17 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022. commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish people, Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. ...
Mesudiye, Ordu
Mesudiye, formerly Hamidiye, (in Greek ΜεσουδιΠand Μιλάς) is a municipality and district of Ordu Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,046 km2, and its population is 13,221 (2022). The town lies at an elevation of .
Mesudiye is a lar ...
, the second child in her family. Her father was a primary school teacher and her mother was a housewife. After completing her primary, secondary, and high school education in Ordu, she graduated from Istanbul School of Medicine in 1995. She completed her residency with the thesis "Forensic Medical Evaluation of Torture Cases", which she developed by screening cases reported by the
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey ( HRFT; , TÄ°HV) is headquartered in Ankara. The organization is committed to treating torture survivors and documenting human rights violations in daily bulletins, monthly and annual special reports in Turkish ...
.
Political career
Between 2011 and 2012, she served as the Vice President of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in Istanbul. She was responsible for press, culture, and communication affairs. She later worked as the party's Provincial Representative between 2012 and 2014. In the 2014 elections, she was one of the candidate's for Maltepe's mayorship. In the 36th Ordinary Provincial Congress of CHP Istanbul held on 13 January 2018, she was elected as the party's Istanbul Provincial President.
After Kaftancıoğlu became the CHP's Istanbul Provincial President, an investigation was opened about her various posts on social media. While the posts caused tension between her and Erdoğan, statements supporting Kaftancıoğlu came from the Peoples' Democratic Party as well as her own party. She eventually apologized to Erdoğan for her posts. A prison sentence of 9 years, 8 months and 20 days was ratified on 23 June 2020.
She was among the founders of the Social Memory Platform. She wrote a book. titled ''Benim Babam Bir Kahramandı'', which was published in 2009. She is on the organizing committee of the Ümit Kaftancıoğlu Story Competition. She is a member of the United June Movement Steering Committee.
2020 she spoke in solidarity with the protest
2021 Boğaziçi University protests
Demonstrations have been held since 2021 against the appointment of Melih Bulu by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as rector of Boğaziçi University, one of the top academic institutions in Turkey.
Background
On 2 January 2021, AKP founder ...
and was called by ErdoÄŸan ''a terrorist of the
Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front
The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front ( or DHKP-C) is a Turkish Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: or ), and has been involved in a militant campaign against the Rep ...
''. This led to a criminal complaint against the president by Kaftancıoğlu.
Legal prosecution
After the CHP appealed the verdict over 10 years at the Court of Cassation, the court reduced the sentence to 4 years 11 months and 20 days in May 2022.
Personal life
When she was working as an emergency doctor at the
SuÅŸehri
Suşehri (formerly: ''Endires'') is a town in Sivas Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Suşehri District. They married in 2001. Kaftancıoğlu is the son of assassinated writer
Ümit Kaftancıoğlu
Ümit Kaftancıoğlu (1935 – 11 April 1980) was a Turkish TV producer, writer and columnist of the newspaper ''Cumhuriyet''.
Life and career
Kaftancıoğlu was born in Saskara village, Hanak, Ardahan Province. He graduated from Cilavuz Villa ...
. The couple has a daughter named Çağım Işık.