Sırrı Süreyya Önder (born 7 July 1962) is a Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, columnist and politician. Elected to parliament in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who Assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, was killed tha ...

as an independent backed by the

Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party ( tr, Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi, ku, Partiya Aştî û Demokrasiyê, BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 2 ...

(BDP), he later joined the party even though he is not from a Kurdish descent. He competed in the 2014 municipal elections as the Istanbul mayoral candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the sister party of the BDP, coming third with 412,875 votes (4.83%). In the general election of 7 June 2015 he was elected as MP for the 1st electoral district of Ankara Province.

Early years and education

Önder was born to a Turkoman family on 7 July 1962 in Adıyaman (a city in Turkey with Kurdish majority) to a barber father, who was founder and leader of the provincial office of Behice Boran's Workers Party of Turkey (TİP) in the 1960s. His father died from

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

when Önder was eight years old. His mother moved with him and his four younger siblings to the maternal grandfather's house. To support his family, whilst still at school, he began working as an apprentice in a photograph shop, and this continued until he was in the tenth grade of high school. At the age of sixteen Önder began to earn more money working for the National Malaria Eradication Program. He got involved in the trade union movement and this led to him being fired. Following a brief time in his own tire repair shop he made a living in the countryside by taking people's photographs for their identity documents. In 1980 Önder enrolled in the University in Ankara to study political science. During the second term he joined a political student movement to protest the

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain ...

that had overturned the government on 12 September 1980. He was arrested and sentenced to twelve years in prison on charges of membership in an illegal organization. He was incarcerated in overcrowded wards in prisons like Mamak, Ulucanlar and Haymana.

Career

Önder's 2006 film '' The International'' was awarded the ''Best Picture Prize'' at the 2007 International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival, and was entered into the 29th Moscow International Film Festival. In 2010 Önder began a columnist career at the newspaper '' BirGün''. He then continued to write at the daily ''

Radikal ''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally consider ...

''. Backed by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in the 2011 parliamentary elections, he ran as an independent. Elected as a deputy 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_ ...

, he then joined the BDP. After entering parliament, he quit his post at ''Radikal''. He also wrote for '' Özgür Gündem''. Önder was involved in the 2013 Taksim Gezi Park protests and was reportedly hospitalised after being hit by a tear gas cartridge. He was part of a delegation of HDP politicians facilitating a dialogue between Öcalan and the Turkish Government which on 28 February 2015 led to the Dolmabahce Consensus. Önder was sentenced to 43 months in prison on 3 December 2018 for a speech he held during the Newroz festivities in 2013. On 6 December 2018 he went to prison in Kocaeli. On 4 October 2019, Önder was released after the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

ruled his freedom of expression had been violated a day earlier. On 17 March 2021, the State Prosecutor to the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In t ...

Bekir Şahin filed a lawsuit before the

demanding for Önder and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics together with a closure of the HDP due to their alleged organizational unity with the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK).

Filmography

;2006 * ''The International'', director, screenwriter, film score and actor - ''Best Picture Award'' 2007 International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival * ''Sis ve Gece'', actor *''Beynelmilel,'' director ;2008 * ''O... Çocukları'', screenwriter * ''Kalpsiz Adam'', advisor to screenwriter ;2009 * ''Ada: Zombilerin Düğünü'', (guest actor) * ''Ejder Kapanı'', actor ;2010 * ''Mar'', guest actor ;2011 * ''Yeraltı'', actor ;2012 * ''F Tipi film'', director ;2013 * ''Düğün Dernek'', actor

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Onder, Sirri Sureyya 1962 births Living people People from Adıyaman Turkish film directors Turkish male film actors Turkish male screenwriters Turkish columnists Deputies of Istanbul BirGün people Radikal (newspaper) people Turkish prisoners and detainees Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Politicians arrested in Turkey