Semra Güzel (born 1984,

Viranşehir Viranşehir () is a municipality and district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,297 km2, and its population is 207,315 (2022). It is a market town serving a cotton-growing area, 93 km east of the city Şanlıurfa and 53&nbs ...

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 medical doctor, a politician and member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). She was a 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 ...

(Turkish Parliament) until her dismissal in December 2022.

Early life and education

She was born in Viransehir in the province of Sanliurfa where she attended primary and secondary education. She graduated from the University of Harran where she studied medicine. She then was employed at the Children's and Gynecological Hospital of

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

in May 2009 and by November 2010 she became a medic in

Nusaybin Nusaybin () is a municipality and district of Mardin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,079 km2, and its population is 115,586 (2022). The city is populated by Kurds of different tribal affiliation. Nusaybin is separated from the larger Kurd ...

Mardin province Mardin Province (; ; ; ) is a province and metropolitan municipality in Turkey. Its area is 8,780 km2, and its population is 870,374 (2022). The largest city in the province is Kızıltepe, while the capital Mardin is the second largest ci ...

. In 2012, she followed up on her studies at the Anesthetics and Reanimation department of the Gazi Yasargil Hospital in Diyarbakir. Additionally, she served as Member of the Board and co-chair in the Medical Chamber of Diyarbakir.

Political career

She was elected to the Turkish Parliament in the parliamentary elections of 2018, representing the HDP for Diyarbakir. In parliament she was concerned on issues concerning health and the Kurdish language. She questioned the fact that Health Ministry's medical hotline didn't provide a service in the Kurdish language but in other languages and also that the Health Cards issued in a hospital in

Elazığ Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plai ...

were in 17 languages but excluded the Kurdish language which is spoken by a considerable population in the province of Elazığ and also in Turkey. Due to press reports which showed her together with a member of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK),

Özgür Özel Özgür Özel () (born 21 September 1974) is a Turkish pharmacist and politician who has served as Leader of the Republican People's Party, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) since 2023. He had previously shared the parliamentary group ...

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 ...

(CHP) mentioned the party would approve the lifting of her

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians or other political leaders are granted full immunity from legal prosecution, both civil prosecution and criminal prosecution, in the course of the exe ...

. She defended herself claiming that she had been engaged to Volkan Bora and as they met in 2014, it was during the peace process between the PKK and Turkey.

Arrest

In September 2022, the Interior Minister

Süleyman Soylu Süleyman Soylu (; born 21 November 1969) is a Turkish politician. He is a deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party. He previously served as the Minister of Labour and Social Security from November 2015 to August 2016 and the Minis ...

announced her arrest over terrorism related charges and accused her of having tried to escape to Greece with a false passport. Imprisoned, she was dismissed from parliament, for not attending its sessions in December 2022.

Personal life

She was engaged to the PKK militant Volkan Bora, who was killed in a Turkish airstrike in Adiyaman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guzel, Semra Living people 1984 births People from Viranşehir 21st-century Turkish women politicians Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Turkish women MPs