Sebahat Tuncel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Co-Chair of the Democratic Regions Party | |
| In office 10 May 2016 – 1 December 2019 Serving with Kamuran Yüksek | |
| Preceded by | Emine Ayna & Kamuran Yüksek |
| Succeeded by | Saliha Aydeniz |
| Honorary President of the Peoples' Democratic Party | |
| Assumed office 22 June 2014 | |
| Serving with | Ertuğrul Kürkçü |
| Chairpersons | Figen Yüksekdağ Selahattin Demirtaş |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Chairwoman of the Peoples' Democratic Party | |
| In office 27 October 2013 – 22 June 2014 | |
| Chairman | Ertuğrul Kürkçü |
| Preceded by | Fatma Gök |
| Succeeded by | Figen Yüksekdağ |
| Spokeswoman of the Peoples' Democratic Congress | |
| In office 16 October 2011 – 7 June 2015 | |
| Spokesman | Ertuğrul Kürkçü |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Member of theGrand National Assembly | |
| In office 22 July 2007 – 7 June 2015 | |
| Constituency | İstanbul(III) (2007) İstanbul(I) (2011) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1975-07-05)5 July 1975 (age 50) Yazıhan, Turkey |
| Political party | People's Democracy Party (1998–2003) Democratic People's Party (2003–2005) Democratic Society Party (2005–2008) Peace and Democracy Party (2008–2012) Peoples' Democratic Party (2012–2014) Democratic Regions Party (2014–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) |
| Alma mater | Mersin University |
Sebahat Tuncel (born 5 July 1975) is a Turkish politician[1] ofKurdish origin,[2] women's rights advocate, former nurse and member of theParliament in Turkey.[3] She was elected a member of parliament while being in prison.
She was born inYazıhan and studied cartography and land surveying inMersin University, before beginning her political career through the Women's Branch of thePeople's Democracy Party (HADEP) in 1998. After she was involved in the foundation of theDemocratic Society Party (DTP), she became the spokesperson of its women's assembly.[4] Subsequently, she was the vice co-chairperson andIstanbul deputy of the DTP,[4] She has also worked with international organizations such asUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP) andAmnesty International (AI).[5]
She was arrested on 5 November 2006 for alleged membership in thePKK.[6] But after she ran as an independent candidate within theThousand Hopes alliance for the parliamentaryelections fromprison and after winning a seat in Istanbul with 93,000 votes,[7] she was released from custody in July 2007.[8] She was elected to theGrand National Assembly of Turkey from prison to the surprise of many.[9] In theparliamentary election of 2011, she was an independent candidate to parliament supported by theLabor, Democracy and Freedom Block,[10] and was elected as an MP forIstanbul's first electoral district.[11] After her election she led a movement which criticized the fact thatHatip Dicle was not allowed to assume his seat in parliament even though he was elected.[10] In 2013 she was elected co-chair of the HDP together withErtuğrul Kürkçü.[12] In May 2016 she was elected co-chair of theDemocratic Regions Party (DBP) together with Kamuran Yüksek.[13] As by September 2016 several Mayors of the DBP were removed, the DBP Co-chair Tunnel invited the mayors to work on for the people from the parties buildings instead of the municipalities.[14]
She demands a further improvements for the cultural rights of the Kurdish population in Turkey and accused the AKP and the KemalistRepublican People's Party of stalling negotiations on the matter.[4]
Sebahat Tuncel has made a number of statements for Turkey to recognize theArmenian genocide. In November 2014, she presented theArmenian Genocide Recognition Bill in the Turkish parliament, urging theTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to publicly apologize for the Armenian Genocide.[15][16]
On 4 October 2016 she was taken into custody and arrested in November 2016.[17] According to the International Law Bureau the prosecution demanded 130 years of imprisonment for terror related charges due to her membership in the legal party DTP and 16 statements and speeches she made during meetings and press conferences she held before meetings of the DBP.[18] On 5 January 2018 she was sentenced to 2 years and three months in prison.[19] In January 2019 she joined and ongoing hunger strike ofLeyla Güven demanding the end of the isolation ofAbdullah Öcalan.[20] In February 2019, while still in hunger strike,[2] she was sentenced to 15 years in prison for being a member of a terrorist organization and making propaganda for a terrorist organization.[21] In October 2020, she was included into investigations into theKobanî protests of 2014.[22]
In September 2020, another sentence under the controversialArticle 299 of Turkey's penal code over 11 months followed for insulting the Turkish presidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan.[23] The sentence was given for calling Erdoğan an "enemy of women" in a speech in 2016. She had made this statement after two controversial statements of Erdoğan where in 2014 he had publicly said "women are not equal to men" and in 2016 he said "women who reject motherhood are deficient and incomplete".[24] On 17 March 2021, the state prosecutorBekir Şahin demanded for Tuncel and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics together with aclosure of the HDP due to the parties alleged organizational unity with the PKK.[25] She was released on 16 May 2024.[26]
