Bedia Özgökçe Ertan
Bedia Özgökçe Ertan at a congress in Diyarbakır in 2019
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office
1 November 2015 – 10 April 2019
ConstituencyVan (Nov 2015, 2018)
Mayor of Van
In office
March 2019 – 19 August 2019
Personal details
Born (1975-01-06) 6 January 1975
Van, Turkey
CitizenshipTurkish
NationalityKurdish
Alma materDokuz Eylül University

Bedia Özgökçe Ertan (born 6 January 1975 in Van[1]) is a lawyer and a politician from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a former member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and Mayor of Van.

Education and professional career

After her graduation from the Law Faculty of the Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, she began to be involved as a defender of human rights at the Van branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) and also the Van Bar Association.[1]

Political career

In the local elections of 2004 she was elected to the council of Van and represented the Democratic Peoples' Party (DEHAP).[1] In the parliamentarian elections of November 2015, she was elected as a Member of Parliament for Van representing the HDP.[2] She opposes war and was charged of "disseminating terror propaganda" for social media posts which opposed to the Turkish military operation in Afrin, Syria in March 2018.[3] In the parliamentarian elections of June 2018 she was re-elected as an Member of Parliament for Van representing the HDP.[4] During her political career she was charged seven times with making propaganda for a terrorist organization, but was not sentenced for it.[5] She was elected a board member of the Progressive Alliance (PA), an association of socialist and social democratic parties in November 2019.[6]

Mayor of Van

In the local election of March 2019, Özgökçe Ertan was elected Mayor of Van.[7] On the 19 August 2019, she was dismissed from her office together with the Mayors of Diyarbakir, Adnan Selçuk Mizrakli and the mayor of Mardin, Ahmet Türk.[8][9] The Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu alleged the mayors had illegally supported the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and their dismissal was in line with Art. 127 of the Turkish constitution.[8] The protests which arose were dispersed with water cannons by the Turkish police.[10] In October 2019 a judge accepted an indictment for Özgökçe Ertan, and prosecuted her for being a "member of an armed terror organization". She is facing a prison term of 30 years.[11]

After her dismissal, Parliamentary Group of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left in the European Parliament condemned the treatment of the Kurdish mayors by the Government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.[12]

Exile

In November 2020, it was reported that she was now living in exile in Greece and that Frank Mentrup, the Mayor of Karlsruhe, supported her emigration to Germany as Turkey invalidated her Turkish passport.[13]

Personal life

She is married and has three children.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Bedia Özgökçe Ertan Kimdir ? - Bedia Özgökçe Ertan Hayatı ve Biyografisi". www.haberler.com. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  2. ↑ Şafak, Yeni (2020-09-25). "Van Seçim Sonuçları 2015 - Genel Seçim Kasım 2015". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  3. ↑ SCF (2018-03-07). "Turkish prosecutor accuses 3 pro-Kurdish HDP deputies of sharing alleged terror propaganda on social media". Stockholm Center for Freedom. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  4. ↑ Şafak, Yeni (2020-09-25). "Van Seçim Sonuçları - Genel Seçim 2018 Van Sonucu". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  5. ↑ "Bedia Özgökçe Ertan kimdir, nereli? Bedia Özgökçe Ertan neden görevden alındı?". Ahaber (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  6. ↑ "Board of the Progressive Alliance". Progressive Alliance. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  7. ↑ Şafak, Yeni (2020-09-25). "Van Seçim Sonuçları – 31 Mart 2019 Van Yerel Seçim sonuçları". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  8. 1 2 "Drei Kurden-Metropolen unter Zwangsverwaltung". Deutsche Welle (in German). 19 August 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-08-19. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
  9. ↑ "Turkey: Kurdish Mayors' Removal Violates Voters' Rights". Human Rights Watch. 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  10. ↑ Ozdal, Umit (2019-08-20). "Turkish police use water cannon, batons on Kurdish protesters". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  11. ↑ "Dismissed Co-Mayor of Van Özgökçe Ertan Faces up to 30 Years in Prison". Bianet. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  12. ↑ "Persecution of Mayors & Opposition in Turkey" (PDF). European United Left • Nordic Green Left. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-06-28. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "Karlsruhe: Einsatz für verfolgte türkische Kommunalpolitikerin". presse.karlsruhe.de. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
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