Hakkı Saruhan Oluç (born 14 January 1958,

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 ...

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 ...

) is a Turkish politician and engineer, a former member and founder 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) and current member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Early life and education

He was born in Istanbul in 1958 and pursued his studies in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where he graduated from the University of Rhine-Westphalia in mechanical engineering. Following his return to Turkey, he was a contributor to a Turkish encyclopedia focusing on socialist issues and a journalist for the left-wing

BirGün ''BirGün'' (''One Day'') is an Istanbul-based Turkish left-wing daily. The paper was founded in 2004 by a group of Turkish intellectuals. The most important point of the newspaper is that it is not owned by any parent company or conglomerate. ...

Political career

He supported the Thousand Hopes candidates in 2007 and also the

Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc The Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc ( Turkish: ''Emek, Demokrasi ve Özgürlük Bloğu'') was an electoral alliance formed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) with several other smaller left-wing parties and political movements in ...

in the 2011 elections. He was elected to the Turkish parliament representing

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

for the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) in the general election of June 2015 but not re-elected in the snap elections in November 2015. He was elected into the Turkish parliament again in the parliamentary elections of 2018, this time representing

. In July 2018, he was elected the speaker of the HDP, succeeding

Ayhan Bilgen Ayhan Bilgen (born 28 January 1971, Sarıkamış, Kars Province) is a journalist, politician and former mayor of Kars from the Peoples' Democratic Party. Early life and education Bilgen studied political sciences at the Ankara University an ...

Political positions

He opposes the

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

introduced by

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep is a Turkish name deriving from the Arabic name Rajab. It may refer to: People Surname * Aziz Recep (born 1992), German-Greek footballer * Sibel Recep (born 1987), Swedish pop singer Given name * Recep Adanır (1929–2017), Turkish fo ...

and criticized the attempts to close the HDP by

Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish people, Turkish politician, economist, former Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the Far-right politics, far-right, Ultranationalism, ultranationa ...

, the leader of the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (, MHP), is a Turkish Far-right politics, far-right, ultranationalism, ultranationalist Political parties in Turkey, political party. The group is often de ...

(MHP). Besides he is demands a political solution for the

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 ...

and

Alevi Alevism (; ; ) is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams, whilst incorporating some traditions from shamanism. Differing ...

population in Turkey and sees the attempts to abolish the presidential system in Turkey by the opposition parties led by 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 ...

as insufficient. In January 2022, he was involved in talks regarding the creation of a Democratic Alliance with parties not represented in parliament for the next electoral campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oluc, Saruhan 1958 births Turkish journalists Living people Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party politicians