Yurdusev Özsökmenler (born 1 January 1952) is a Turkish politician who served as the

Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly The Deputy Speaker(s) of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi Başkanvekilleri'') serve on the Speakers Council (Turkish: ''Başkanlık Divanı'') in the Grand National Assembly of Turk ...

from 9 July to 1 November 2015. She was elected as a Member of Parliament for the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

in the June 2015 general election from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). She previously served as the mayor of Bağlar between 2004 and 2009.

Early life and career

Yurdusev Özsökmenler was born on 1 January 1952 in the district of

Lapseki Lapseki (from Greek language, Greek: :el:Λάμψακος, Λάμψακος, ''Lampsakos'') is a town in Çanakkale Province, Turkey. It is the seat of Lapseki District.Çanakkale Province Çanakkale Province () is a province of Turkey, located in the northwestern part of the country. It takes its name from the city of Çanakkale. Its area is 9,817 km2, and its population is 559,383 (2022). Like Istanbul, Çanakkale province ...

. Her mother was a primary school teacher. Özsökmenler graduated from

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

Department of Anthropology and Ethnology before becoming a journalist at newspapers such as ''

Özgür Gündem ''Özgür Gündem'' (Turkish language, Turkish for "Free Agenda") was an Istanbul-based daily Turkish language newspaper, mainly read by Kurds. Launched in May 1992, the newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish confl ...

'' and ''

Özgür Ülke Özgür Ülke was a Turkish newspaper established on the 28 April 1994, following the shut down of Özgür Gündem and other newspapers which reported on the Kurdish Turkish conflict by the Turkish government. It was closed down on the 2 February ...

''. She later became a publishing expert at the

Confederation of Public Workers' Unions The Confederation of Public Employees' Trade Unions (, KESK) is one of the four major national trade union centers in Turkey. It was formed in 1995. KESK is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation, and the European Trade Union ...

(KESK).

Political career

Özsökmenler was a candidate from the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) for the electoral district of

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 ...

in the 2002 general election. She was not elected since her party failed to win above the 10%

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

needed to win parliamentary representation.

Mayor of Bağlar

In the 2004 local elections, Özsökmenler was the candidate of the Social Democratic People's Party (SHP) to become the Mayor of Bağlar Municipality. With 50,733 votes, Özsökmenler was elected Mayor of Bağlar and served until 2009. In the 2009 local elections, Yüksel Baran from 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) was elected as Mayor in her place.

Deputy Speaker

For the June 2015 general election, Özsökmenler became a Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) candidate from

and was subsequently elected as a Member of Parliament. The HDP, having the right to choose one of the four Deputy Speakers of the Grand National Assembly by virtue of having 80 MPs, was allegedly initially intending to put forward

Dilek Öcalan Dilek Öcalan (born 3 October 1987) is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who served as a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Şanlıurfa, Turkey, from 2015 to 2018. She is the niece of Abdullah Öcalan, t ...

. Öcalan, who is the nephew of

PKK 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 Kurdish militant political organization and armed gue ...

leader

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

, drew heavy criticism and it was claimed that she did not want the role. In Öcalan's place, Özsökmenler became the HDP's Deputy Speaker of Parliament.

Accusations of armed terrorism

While serving as the mayor of Bağlar, a photo was released by an anti-

website based in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

that allegedly showed Özsökmenler armed and dressed in military uniform at a PKK training camp. The individual who released the picture alleged that Özsökmenler was codenamed 'Ayşe' and the wife of

, having been alleged to have advanced in office because of Öcalan. Özsökmenler and her lawyer denied these claims and referred to the publishing of the photograph as a 'heavy attack on �zsökmenler'spersonality'.

References

External links

Profile on the Parliament websiteCollection of all relevant news items at Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozsokmenler, Yurdusev Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Living people 1952 births People from Lapseki Istanbul University alumni Deputies of Van Deputy speakers of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Democratic Society Party politicians Social Democratic People's Party (Turkey) politicians Women mayors of places in Turkey Mayors of places in Turkey 21st-century Turkish women politicians