Ertuğrul Kürkçü
| Ertuğrul Kürkçü MP | |
|---|---|
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| Honorary President of the Peoples' Democratic Party | |
|
Assumed office 22 June 2014 Serving with Sebahat Tuncel | |
| Chairman of the Peoples' Democratic Party | |
|
In office 27 October 2013 – 22 June 2014 Serving with Sebahat Tuncel | |
| Preceded by | Fatma Gök & Yavuz Önen |
| Succeeded by |
Figen Yüksekdağ & Selahattin Demirtaş |
| Spokesman of the Peoples' Democratic Congress | |
|
Assumed office 16 October 2011 | |
| Spokeswoman | Sebahat Tuncel |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Member of the Grand National Assembly | |
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Assumed office 12 June 2011 | |
| Constituency | Mersin (2011) |
| President of the Turkish Revolutionary Youth Federation | |
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Assumed office 18 October 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Doğu Perinçek |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
5 May 1948 Bursa, Turkey |
| Political party |
Freedom and Solidarity Party Peace and Democracy Party (2008–2014) Peoples' Democratic Party (2014–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Turkish Revolutionary Youth Federation (DEV-GENÇ) Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) |
| Website |
www |
Ertuğrul Kürkçü (born 5 May 1948) is a Turkish politician, socialist activist and the current Honorary President of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) as of 22 June 2014. He previously served as the chairman of the HDP between October 2013 and June 2014 alongside chairwoman Sebahat Tuncel, who also serves as a co-Honorary President of the party since June 2014. Both Kürkçü and Tuncel also serve as spokespersons for the Peoples' Democratic Congress since 2011. He was elected as an Independent Member of Parliament for Mersin in the 2011 general election.[1]
Kürkçü was born in Bursa and was one of the founding members of the Marxist-Leninist "Generation '68'" movement alongside Doğu Perinçek and Deniz Gezmiş. In 1970, he was elected as the President of the Turkish Revolutionary Youth Federation (DEV-GENÇ). In 1972, Kürkçü was involved in an operation designed by Mahir Çayan to abduct two NATO technicians and hold them hostage, with the condition of their release being that Deniz Gezmiş and other activists imprisoned during the 1971 coup d'état being taken off death row. The Turkish Gendarmerie bombed the house in Kızıldere and all the activists apart from Kürkçü were killed. He was tried under Martial law and sentenced to death, but an amnesty law in 1974 commuted his sentence to 30 years. He spent 14 years in prison, during which he translated Karl Marx's biography into Turkish.
After his release from prison, he was the public broadcasting manager for the 'Socialism and Social struggle Encyclopedia'. He continued his political life in the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), but left after inner party struggles and became a founding member of several smaller Socialist or Communist parties. In the 2011 general election, Kürkçü was part of the 'Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc' of independent candidates that had been fielded by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) as well as 13 other parties. Kürkçü and the other Bloc candidates ran as independents in order to bypass the 10% election threshold that parties must surpass in order to gain representation in the Grand National Assembly. As the Bloc's candidate from Mersin, he was elected to Parliament with 9.7% of the vote. In Parliament, he was part of the Human Rights Investigation Committee and was also a writer for the online new site bianet.[2][3] He previously wrote for the Political Gazette between 2002 and 2007, while also writng for numerous political party publications beforehand.[4]
In March 1997, Kürkçü was sentenced to 10 months in prison for translating a book named 'War and People: the Arms Trade in Turkey and the violation of Arms Laws' into Turkish. Following an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, the Turkish government were ordered to pay €2,500 in damages.
Selected works
- Following the Rebellion (İsyanın İzinde), November 2013
- Practical Minds and the Theory's Excitement (Pratiğin Aklı Teorinin Heyecanı), May 2014
References
- ↑ "Ertuğrul Kürkçü". Ertuğrul Kürkçü. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ↑ "Bianet". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ↑ "Bianet". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ↑ "AKP demokrasiye gitmek için bir imkân değildir".
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