Öztürk Türkdoğan (born 10 November 1969, Kars, Turkey) is a lawyer and Human Rights activist and politician. He was the head of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD), a member of the Wise People committee for the peace process in 2013 and for the parliamentary elections of May 2023, he has become a candidate to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Green Left Party (YSP).

Early life and education

Öztürk Türkdogan was born in a village in Selim of Kars where he attended primary school later transferring to Erzurum where he completed primary school and began attending high school.[1] He moved a gain to Izmir, where he completed high school in Bergama.[1] After his graduation from the Health Vocational School in Yenisehir, he began working as a health officer in 1988.[1] The same year he began to study law at the Ankara University from where he graduated in 1994.[1]

Professional life

Öztürk Türkdogan quit as a health officer in 1998, and following worked as a lawyer.[1] Since the same year he is a legal advisor to the Social Service Worker's Union (SES).[1] Between 2002 and 2009 he served as legal adviser to the Confederation of Public Employees' Unions (KESK) of which he was a founding board member.[1] In 2002, he became a member of the Central Board of the IHD,[1] and became its chairman in 2008.[2] Türkdogan resigned from the leadership of the IHD in March 2023, after he decided to run as a candidate to the Turkish parliament.[3] Eren Keskin became his successor.[2]

He was arrested on the 19 March 2021 due to an investigation concerning eventual activities of the prohibited Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[4] The same day he was released pending trial.[4][5] The month before, the interior minister accused the IHD of being linked to the PKK.[6] Soylu deemed he statements regarding the deaths of Turkish soldiers in a Turkish military operation by the IHD, the PKK and HDP as similar.[7] By the prosecution, he was accused of being part of an illegal organization.[5] The investigation concerned statements regarding the detention conditions of Abullah Öcalan, which were published on the website of the news agency ANF.[8] Since, January 2022, he was also investigated over the publication of a petition that called for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the IHD website [9] In April 2022, he was acquitted from being part of an illegal organization, but the other trials kept ongoing.[8]

Personal life

He is married and has two children.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Öztürk Türkdoğan | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Niwêneriya Tirkiyeyê". Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  2. 1 2 "Change of Office at İHD – HRA". IHD. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  3. ↑ "İHD Eş Genel Başkanı Öztürk Türkdoğan, Yeşil Sol Parti'den aday adayı oldu". Gazete Duvar (in Turkish). 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  4. 1 2 "İHD Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan acquitted - Expression Interrupted". www.expressioninterrupted.com. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  5. 1 2 "Human Rights Association Co-Chair Türkdoğan released". Bianet.
  6. ↑ "Bulletin de liaison et d'information" (PDF). Institute Kurde de Paris. March 2021.
  7. ↑ "Interior Minister Soylu targets HDP and İHD over killings in Gare". Bianet. 17 February 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Türkiye: Acquittal and ongoing judicial harassment of Öztürk Türkdoğan". OMCT. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  9. ↑ Bourke, Fiachra (2022-04-28). "Turkey: Öztürk Türkdoğan facing multiple criminal proceedings (joint communication)". UN SR Human Rights Defenders. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
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