Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat (8 August 1943 – 11 July 2019) was a Turkish politician of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

origin who was one of the founders of the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and De ...

(AKP) in 2001. He served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for the

Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...

from 1999 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2018 as a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Early life

Fırat was born in the district of Kahta in Adyaman on 8 August 1943. His grandfather, Hacı Bedir Fırat, was an MP during the first, second and third Parliaments of the Turkish Republic, serving from

Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city ...

for the first and second and from

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

for the third Parliament. His uncle

Hüseyin Fehmi Fırat Hussein, Hussain, Hossein, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein or Husain (; ar, حُسَيْن ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-i-N ( ar, ح س ی ن, link=no), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", " ...

was a

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politician who also served as an MP for three terms. His cousin,

Mehmet Sırrı Turanlı Mehmed (modern Turkish: Mehmet) is the most common Bosnian and Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammad ( ar, محمد) (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muha ...

, was an MP for

Adıyaman Adıyaman ( ku, Semsûr) is a city and district in southeastern Turkey, and the capital of the Adıyaman Province. The inhabitants of the city are mostly Kurdish. Etymology An unverified theory is that the former name of the city ''Hisn-Mansur'' ...

in the 11th Parliament and was later also a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

. In

, the name '''Dengir''' means "great voice" while the name '''Mîr''' means ''

bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

'' (local leader). Mir Mehmet was the name of one of Fırat's forefathers. From a Kurdish background, Fırat's grandfather was given a medal by

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Rep ...

. After graduation, Fırat served as a freelance lawyer, a farmer and an export tradesman. He was a member of the Executive Board of the Mediterranean Exporters Association.

Political career

Felicity Party, 1999-2001

Fırat was elected as a Member of Parliament for Adyaman from the Islamist orientated

Virtue Party Virtue Party ( tr, Fazilet Partisi, FP) was an Islamist political party established on 17 December 1997 in Turkey. It was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and then banned on 22 June 2001 for violating the secularist articles of ...

(FP) in the 1999 general election. The party saw a split between traditionalist Islamists and moderate conservatives over the course of the Parliament, with a party leadership election contested by the most modern

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both ...

and traditionalist incumbent

Recai Kutan Mehmet Recai Kutan (born 1930) is a Turkish politician and the former leader of Felicity Party (SP). Biography Kutan graduated from ITU, Department of Civil Engineering in 1952. Until 1973, he worked as an engineer in various projects includ ...

yielding a victory for Kutan. In the 2000 presidential election, Fırat put his name forward as a candidate, but withdrew and was defeated by cross-party candidate

Ahmet Necdet Sezer Ahmet Necdet Sezer (; born 13 September 1941) is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the tenth president of Turkey from 2000 to 2007. Previously he was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from 1998 to 2002. The Grand Nationa ...

. The party was closed down in 2001 by 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 ...

for violating

state secularism A secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens equally regardle ...

, after which traditionalist MPs formed the

Felicity Party The Felicity Party ( tr, Saadet Partisi, SP) is an Islamist Turkish political party. It was founded in 2001, and mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey. It was founded on 20 July 2001 after the Virtue Party (FP) was banned by the Co ...

(SP) while moderate conservatives formed the

(AKP). Fırat was one of the founding members of the AKP and joined the party after the FP's dissolution.

Justice and Development Party, 2001-14

As one of the founders of the AKP, Fırat served as a Deputy leader of the party under

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 t ...

. He was elected in the 2002 general election as a Member of Parliament for

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitl ...

and re-elected in the 2007 general election as a Member of Parliament for

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, ...

. He did not contest the 2011 general election. Despite the AKP forming a majority government in both 2002 and 2007, Fırat was not made a Minister despite being one of the AKP's founders. In an interview given to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2008, Fırat caused controversy after criticising Atatürk for his secular revolutions for causing a "trauma" within society. Serving as the party's deputy leader, Fırat resigned from this role in November 2008 after accusations of corruption during a live debate with

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (born Kemal Karabulut, 17 December 1948) is a Turkish economist, retired civil servant and social democratic politician. He is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and has been Leader of the Main Opposition in T ...

, the

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 thei ...

of the Republican People's Party. He resigned from the AKP completely on 27 July 2014, positing his decision on ''

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

''.

Peoples' Democratic Party, 2015-2019

Fırat defected from the AKP to the HDP in February 2015, with the intention of running for Parliament from Mersin as a HDP candidate. He claimed that the HDP could become the main opposition party in future elections. His defection was one of the high-profile defections that the AKP had suffered to the HDP, which was perceived to be taking large portions of the AKP vote in the Kurdish south-east of Turkey. He was elected to Parliament in the June 2015 general election after his party succeeded in surpassing the 10%

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

needed to gain seats in Parliament. He was subsequently put forward by the HDP as their candidate for

Parliamentary Speaker The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerfo ...

in the June–July 2015 speaker elections, but was eliminated in the third round. He died on 11 July 2019, aged 75, from lung cancer.

References

External links

Collection of all relevant news items at Radikal.comCollection of all relevant news items at Haberler.comCollection of all relevant news items at HürriyetCollection of all relevant news items at Sondakika.comCollection of all relevant news items at Milliyet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firat, Dengir Mir Mehmet 1943 births 2019 deaths Turkish Kurdish people Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians People from Kâhta Deaths from lung cancer in Turkey Deputies of Mersin Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 22nd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 21st Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Ankara University alumni