Selahattin Demirtaş

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Selahattin Demirtaş (born 10 April 1973, in Palu Elâzığ, Turkey) is a Zaza-speaking[1] Kurdish politician in Turkey. He became the chairman of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in January 2010.[2]

He graduated from Ankara University Law Faculty. He is on the Board of Directors of the Diyarbakir Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD).

Selahattin Demirtaş was elected to the Turkish Parliament in the 2007 election as an MP for Diyarbakir for the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which eventually re-formed as the BDP.

He is married and has two children. His brother, Nurettin Demirtaş was also an active politician and the leader of the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

In September 2010, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Demirtaş emerged as a leader of the BDP's civil disobedience campaign during the 2011–12 Kurdish protests in Turkey, which he compared to concurrent protests in the region, especially the revolution in Egypt.[3] He spoke with President Abdullah Gul on behalf of the Kurdish population after the fatal shooting of a BDP supporter by police in April.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Orhan Türkdoğan, Doğu ve Güneydoğu: Sorunlar ve Çözüm Yolları, IQ KültürSanat Yayıncılık, 2009, ISBN 9789752552623, p. 16.
  2. ↑ "Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi 23. Dönem Milletvekili". Grand National Assembly of Turkey. 2007. Retrieved 2010-05-21. 
  3. ↑ Fraser, Suzan (27 March 2011). "Turkey’s Kurds begin ‘civil disobedience’ campaign". Dawn. Retrieved 27 April 2011. 
  4. ↑ "Political crisis in Turkey over candidates for parliamentary polls". Monsters & Critics. 20 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011. 
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