Sebahat Tuncel

Sebahat Tuncel (born 5 July 1975, Yazıhan, Malatya ) is a Turkish politician [1] of Kurdish origin,[2] women's rights advocate, former nurse and member of Parliament in Turkey.[3]

Sebahat Tuncel
Honorary President of the Peoples' Democratic Party
Assumed office
22 June 2014
Serving withErtuğrul Kürkçü
ChairpersonsFigen Yüksekdağ
Selahattin Demirtaş
Preceded byPosition established
Chairwoman of the Peoples' Democratic Party
In office
27 October 2013 – 22 June 2014
ChairmanErtuğrul Kürkçü
Preceded byFatma Gök
Succeeded byFigen Yüksekdağ
Spokeswoman of the Peoples' Democratic Congress
Assumed office
16 October 2011
SpokesmanErtuğrul Kürkçü
Preceded byPosition established
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office
22 July 2007 – 7 June 2015
Constituencyİstanbul (III) (2007)
İstanbul (I) (2011)
Personal details
Born (1975-07-05) 5 July 1975
Yazıhan, Malatya Province, Turkey
CitizenshipTurkish
NationalityKurdish
Political partyPeople's Democracy Party
(1998-2003)
Democratic People's Party
(2003-2005)
Democratic Society Party
(2005-2008)
Peace and Democracy Party
(2008–2014)
Peoples' Democratic Party
(2014–present)
Other political
affiliations		Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK)
Alma materMersin University

Early life and education

She was born in Yazıhan and studied cartography and land surveying in Mersin University, before beginning her political career through the Women's Branch of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) in 1998. She was the vice co-chairperson and Istanbul deputy of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), in which foundation she was involved. She has also worked with international organizations such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Amnesty International (AI).[4]

Political career

She was arrested on 5 November 2006 for alleged membership in the PKK.[5] But after she ran as an independent candidate within the Thousand Hopes alliance for the parliamentary elections from prison and after winning a seat in Istanbul with 93,000 votes,[6] she was released from custody in July 2007.[7] She was elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from prison to the surprise of many.[8] In the parliamentary election of 2011, she was an independent candidate to parliament supported by the Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block,[9] and was elected as an MP for Istanbul.[10] After her election she led a movement which criticized the fact that Hatip Dicle was not allowed to assume his seat in parliament even though he was elected.[9] In 2013 she was elected Co-Chair of the HDP together with Ertuğrul Kürkçü.[11] In May 2016 she was elected Co-Chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) together with Kamuran Yüksek.[12] 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.[13]

Recognition of Armenian Genocide

Sebahat Tuncel has made a number of statements for Turkey to recognise the Armenian Genocide. In November 2014, she presented the Armenian Genocide Recognition Bill in the Turkish parliament, urging the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to publicly apologize for the Armenian Genocide.[14][15]

Prosecution and imprisonment

On 4 October 2016 she was taken into custody and arrested in November 2016.[16] 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.[17] On the 5 January 2018 she was sentenced to 2 years and three months in prison.[18] In January 2019 she began a hunger strike in solidarity with ongoing hunger strike of Leyla Güven demanding the end of the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan.[19] 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.[20]

In September 2020, another sentence under the controversial Article 299 of Turkey's penal code over 11 months followed for insulting the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[21] 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".[22]

Notes
  1. "Former Turkish MP hheld at Istanbul airport". Anadolu_Agency. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  2. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Turkey jails Kurdish politicians over alleged terror links | DW | 02.02.2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  3. "Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi 23. Dönem Milletvekili". Grand National Assembly of Turkey. 2007. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  4. The Relations Between the US, the Kurds, and Turkey, Sebahat Tuncel, Watson Institute, Brown University, Feb. 2008
  5. "Tuncel Goes From Prison to Parliament". Bianet. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  6. Row erupts over jailed Turkey MP, BBC, July 2007.
  7. The Kurdish Struggle in Turkey: An interview with Sebahat Tuncel, MP Archived 2009-04-06 at Archive.today, Jake Hess, ZNet, June 2008.
  8. Pojmann, W. (2008-09-29). Migration and Activism in Europe since 1945. Springer. p. 70. ISBN 9780230615540.
  9. "Sebahat Tuncel: we won't enter parliament without Dicle". ANF News. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  10. Şafak, Yeni (2020-09-18). "Seçim Sonuçları 2011 - Milletvekili Genel Seçim Sonuçları". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  11. "Tuncel and Kürkçü elected co-chairs of HDP". ANF News. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  12. "Sebahat Tuncel, Kamuran Yüksek Elected DBP Co-Chairs". Bianet. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  13. Khalidi, Ari. "Kurdish DBP to turn party buildings into municipalities". www.kurdistan24.net. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  14. "Sebahat Tuncel – author of Armenian Genocide bill jailed in Turkey". Armen Press. 7 November 2014.
  15. "Armenian Genocide Recognition Bill submitted to Turkish Parliament". SBS Armenian. 12 November 2014.
  16. "DBP Co-Chair Sebahat Tuncel Arrested". Bianet. 7 November 2016.
  17. Owen, Margaret. "Indictment and Allegations Concerning Ms Sabahat Tuncel" (PDF). International Law Bureau.
  18. "PERSECUTION OF KURDISH MPS - Early Day Motions". edm.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  19. "Arrested Politicians Sebahat Tuncel, Selma Irmak Go on Hunger Strike". Bianet. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  20. "Turkey jails two Kurdish former parliamentarians". Reuters. 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  21. "Turkish court sentences politician to 11 months for saying 'president is a misogynist'". www.duvarenglish.com. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  22. Judd, Emily (22 September 2020). "Turkey sentences female politician to prison for calling Erdogan 'enemy of women'". Al Arabiya.
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