Eren Erdem (born 14 August 1986) is a Turkish writer and politician from the Republican People's Party (CHP), who has served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

İstanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

since 7 June 2015.

Biography

Eren Erdem was born in Fatih, İstanbul on 14 August 1986 to Hasan Erdem and his wife Hüsniye. He completed his primary and secondary education in İstanbul. During his youth, he worked as an auxiliary staff to make extra money. He wrote eight books: * ''Gayya Karanlığından Kur’an Aydınlığına, Abdestli Kapitalizm'' * ''Nurjuvazi'' * ''Şeytan Evliyaları'' * ''Selman-ı Pak'' * ''İslam ve Kapitalizm'' * ''Riya Tabirleri'', ''Devrim Ayetleri'' Erdem was elected as a Republican People's Party (CHP)

for

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

in the June 2015 general election. He was re-elected in November 2015. He is married with one child and can speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

at a fluent level. Erdem leaked a number of documents from Turkish government surveillance of

ISIL An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

-members. The documents are said to show detailed information about activities and locations of ISIL-members, but also a lack of action on part of the Turkish government. Erdem has alleged a cover-up by the Turkish government, which is implicated in having poor control of the Turkish-Syrian border. Erdem also claims that sarin gas was transported through Turkey to anti-government rebels in Syria, where it was used in the 2013

Ghouta chemical attack The Ghouta chemical attack, was a chemical attack carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in Ghouta, Syria during the Syrian civil war. Two opposition-controlled areas in the su ...

, and ISIL attacks against civilians. Erdem showed before the parliament a case where investigations leading to the arrest of 13 potential Turkish ISIL-members were made, but later inexplicably dropped. The leaks are also said to implicate that Erdogan's immediate family in his son-in-law,

Berat Albayrak Berat Albayrak ( born 21 February 1978) is a Turkish businessman and former politician, and the son-in-law of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is a former CEO of Çalık Holding. He was a member of parliament from Istanbul in the 25th ...

, made financial gain through oil-deals with ISIL-members. The material was released through an interview with the English-language Russian news-service

Russia Today RT (formerly Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya (russian: Россия Сегодня) is a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television and free-to-air channels ...

, and has been said to promote Russian anti-

AK Party The Justice and Development Party ( tr, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, ; AKP), abbreviated officially AK Party in English, is a political party in Turkey self-describing as conservative-democrat. It is one of the two major parties of contempora ...

and anti-Erdogan sentiment. Erdem faces treason charges in Turkey for his leaks. A trial was also directed to two journalists who reported on the story, but it has since been dropped.

2018: new arrest

In June, 2018, he was arrested again, charged with issues which include his role as an editor-in-chief of the ''Karşı'' newspaper, the revealing the identity of a secret witness and his alleged support for the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement ( tr, Gülen hareketi), referred to by its participants as Hizmet ("service") or Cemaat ("community") and since 2016 by the Government of Turkey as FETÖ ("Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation" or, more commonly, "Fethullah T ...

. A court in Istanbul freed him on January 7, 2019, but he was immediately rearrested. In February 2019, it was reported that Erdem was on hunger strike. On October 31, the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's office ordered that Erdem be released.

References

External links

*
Eren Erdem's TBMM biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erdem, Eren 1986 births Living people Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey People from Istanbul Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Turkish writers