Ertuğrul Kürkçü
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Ertuğrul Kürkçü (born 5 May 1948) is a Turkish politician,
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and the current Honorary President of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) as of 22 June 2014 and Honorary Associate of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...
(PACE) as of 8 October 2018.


Recent Political Background

He previously served as the co-chair of the HDP between October 2013 and June 2014 with co-chair
Sebahat Tuncel Sebahat Tuncel (born 5 July 1975) is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin, women's rights advocate, former nurse and member of the Parliament in Turkey. She was elected a member of parliament while being in prison. Early life and education ...
. Kürkçü and Tuncel also served as co-spokespersons for the Peoples' Democratic Congress between 2011 and 2016. Tuncel stepped down on 23 January 2016 and was replaced by Gülistan Koçyiğit. Kürkçü was elected in the 2015 June and November general elections consecutively as a Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Member of Parliament for the Aegean port city of Izmir. In the 7 June 2015 elections the HDP entered in the parliament with 80 deputies including Kürkçü. In the second round of elections on 1 November called by the President upon the parliament's failure in establishing a coalition government in due time, Kürkçü kept his seat and the HDP preserved its place as the third biggest party in the parliament but lost 2,5 percent of votes and 21 seats after a tense election campaign marred by violent attacks against the HDP premises and outdoor activities what caused the lives of at least 150 party members and affiliates. Kürkçü represented his party also in the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...
(PACE). In line with the HDP Rules of Conduct which prevents members' election for a representational post more than twice, Kürkçü, did not run for the 24 June 2018 general elections, yet preserves his membership in the Party Assembly and Central Executive Committee as provided by his status of the HDP Honorary Chair. Kürkçü had earlier entered in the TBMM as an independent Member of Parliament for
Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...
in the 2011 general election. Kürkçü was among 51 HDP deputies whose parliamentary immunities were lifted through a controversial temporary constitutional amendment which was sharply criticized by the
Venice Commission The Venice Commission, officially European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin ...
, the legal advisory body of the
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. The amendment was voted on 20 May 2016 and passed in a secret vote with the votes of 376 deputies in favor. Kürkçü is under ongoing legal prosecution for more than 16 separate charges for the speeches he made outside the parliament and for the popular protests he joined during his 7 years of deputyship. He has been sentenced two years in December 2018 by the Iğdır Penal Court and pending appeal. Total charges against Kürkçü amount to some 40 years. Ertuğrul Kürkçü, upon the proposal of the Unified European Left Group (UEL) in the PACE, was awarded with a "Honorary Membership" in October 2018.


Origins

Kürkçü was born in
Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...
and was one of the activists of the " Generation '68'" student movement alongside Mahir Çayan and Deniz Gezmiş. In October 1970, then the head of the Socialists Association of the
Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, ...
(METU), he was elected as the President of the Turkish Revolutionary Youth Federation (DEV-GENÇ). In 1972, Kürkçü joined the armed resistance against the military takeover and took part in an operation designed by Mahir Çayan to kidnap three
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technicians based in the Black Sea district of
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for bargaining for the release off
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of Deniz Gezmiş and other activists who were condemned to death under the 1971 Turkish military memorandum. On 30 March 1972 the Turkish authorities confronted the revolutionaries and all the activists apart from Kürkçü were killed. He was trialed under
Martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
and sentenced to death, but after the general amnesty in 1974 his sentence was converted to 30 years. He was released in 1986 after 14 years in prison. While in prison he translated several books, including Karl Marx's biography, into Turkish.


Fight for Unified Broad Left

After his release from prison, Kürkçü begun his editorial career as the Editor in Chief for the 'Encyclopedia of Socialism and Social Struggles'. He continued his political life in the struggle for the unification of Turkey's socialist left movement. He was one of the founders of the
Freedom and Solidarity Party The Left Party (, often written as SOL Parti) is a secular, socialist political party in Turkey. The Party was founded after the Freedom and Solidarity Party () decided to change its name to the Left Party at the 8th Extraordinary Congress held ...
(ÖDP), a united left party of Turkey, in 1996. He had to resign from the party with a group of comrades in 2000 as the party disintegrated after its failed election campaign in 1999. While heading the Socialist Future Movement and editing the party's Bread&Freedom magazine Kürkçü in the 2011 general elections, joined the broad left election block of the 'Labour, Democracy and Freedom' of
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candidates that had been fielded by the
Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party (, , BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 2008, following the closure of the latter party for its alleged conne ...
(BDP) alongside 13 other left parties and Kurdish groups. In this first successful joint campaign of the Kurdish Liberation Movement and Turkey's left and democratic forces. Kürkçü and the other Bloc candidates ran as independents in order to bypass the 10%
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. As a candidate for the Mediterranean
Mersin province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...
, he was elected to Parliament with 9.7% of the vote. In his first term in the Parliament, he was a member of the Human Rights Investigation Committee.


Journalistic career

Having entered the parliament Kürkçü resigned from his position of project coordinator of
Bianet Bianet (acronym for ) is an Independent news agency based in BeyoÄŸlu, Istanbul. Focused on human rights in Turkey it is mainly funded by a Swedish organization. Bianet was established in January 2000 by journalists around , former representative ...
- one of the vanguards of Turkey's online journalism to which he contributed also with his news and articles. He was also active as a political journalist, columnist and editor alongside his online journalism career. He had edited and contributed for the Political Gazette between 2002 and 2007, while also writing for numerous political party publications beforehand. In March 1997, Kürkçü was sentenced to 10 months in prison for translating a
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 ...
report titled "War and People: Arms Transfers and Violations of the Laws of War in Turkey" into Turkish together with the publisher AyÅŸe Zarakolu. Following an appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
, the Turkish Government was ordered to pay
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2,500 in damages.


Selected works

*Tracking The Rebellion ''(İsyanın İzinde)'', November 2013 *The Reason of Practice and The Enthusiasm of Theory ''(Pratiğin Aklı Teorinin Heyecanı)'', May 2014 * Encyclopedia of Socialism and Social Struggles (Ed.) ''(Sosyalizm ve Toplumsal Mücadeleler Ansiklopedisi)'', 1987


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurkcu, Ertugrul People from Bursa 1948 births Living people Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Turkish prisoners and detainees Turkish socialists