Sırrı Sakık (born 1 August 1957, Yörecik,

Muş Province Muş Province (; ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the east Anatolia region of Turkey (Türkiye). Its area is 8,718 km2, and its population is 399,202 (2022), down from 453,654 in 2000. The provincial capital is the city of Muş. Ano ...

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-

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 ...

journalist and politician. He is 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 ...

and Mayor of

Ağrı Ağrı (; ) is a city in eastern Turkey, near the border with Iran. It is the seat of Ağrı Province and Ağrı District.

. He was elected in the

2023 Turkish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 2023, alongside presidential elections, to elect all 600 members of the Grand National Assembly. The incoming members formed the 28th Parliament of Turkey. The elections had originally been ...

Background

Sakık is the brother of former

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) commander Şemdin Sakık. His brother Abdulsamet Sakık, a Democracy Party (DEP) politician who was the party's chair in

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

, was assassinated on 2 October 1993. Sakık was involved in the tourism sector and was also a journalist for ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

'' and '' Vatan''.

Political career

Sakık was first elected to the

in 1991 on a ticket of the Social Democratic People's Party (SHP). He was a founding member of the Democracy Party (DEP) in 1993, and was one of the DEP deputies sentenced in 1994 to 15 years in prison for links with Kurdish militants, after their

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 ...

was revoked. He was later released, and played a role in the

People's Democracy Party People's Democracy Party (, HADEP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003. History Bozlak's first chairmanship Party founder and attorney Murat Bozlak was the part ...

(HADEP), being arrested after a 1996 incident in which masked men dropped the Turkish flag at its party congress and raised the PKK flag (Sakık had walked out in protest, but later said all flags should be respected). He was a founding member of the

Democratic Society Party The Democratic Society Party (, DTP, Kurdish: ''Partiya Civaka Demokratîk'', PCD) was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social-democratic and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was c ...

(DTP) in 2005 and entered parliament again in 2007, technically running as an independent. He was deputy chairman of the DTP. He was re-elected in 2011 for 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) (again, technically as an independent), after the DTP was banned in 2009.kimkimdir.gen.tr
Sırrı Sakık (1957 - .... )
/ref> In 2012 he displayed a bullet in parliament, which he said had been sent to him as a death threat. On 15 September 2012 his son Sedar Sakık committed suicide by jumping from the balcony of his house. In the 2014 local elections he was elected as mayor of

Ağrı Ağrı (; ) is a city in eastern Turkey, near the border with Iran. It is the seat of Ağrı Province and Ağrı District.

. In March 2017 he was suspended from his office as Mayor by the Turkish Minister of the Interior. A trustee was appointed instead for Ağrı Municipality.

Political positions

He supported women's participation in politics and opposed the electoral process which included a 10% threshold for parties which forced politicians of the DTP to present themselves as independent candidates. He also supported a Kurdish participation in a political and democratic environment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakik, Sirri 1957 births Living people People from Muş Province Democracy Party (Turkey) politicians Democratic Society Party politicians Democratic Regions Party politicians Deputies of Muş Cumhuriyet people Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey People expelled from public office People's Labor Party politicians Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party politicians