Ayhan Bilgen (born 28 January 1971,

Sarıkamış Sarıkamış or Sarikamish (, ) is a town in Kars Province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Sarıkamış District.Kars Province Kars Province (; Azerbaijani: Qars Rayonu; ; ) is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its closed border with Armenia. Its area is 10,193 km2, and its population is 274,829 (2022). The pr ...

) is a journalist, politician and former mayor of

Kars Kars ( or ; ; ) is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District.� ...

from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

Early life and education

Bilgen studied political sciences at the

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

and sociology at the

Hacettepe University Hacettepe University () is a public research university in Ankara, Turkey. It was established on 8 July 1967. It is ranked first among the Turkish universities by University Ranking by Academic Performance in 2021. The university has two main c ...

, also in Ankara. In 2006, Bilgen was engaged in the Turkish Human Rights association Mazlumder in which activity he opposed the new Anti-Terror bill by the Turkish Government as it limited the freedom of expression. In the same year he was elected as its chairman, and he kept the post for two years. In 2011 the newspaper he was the editor in chief of, Günlük, was closed by the Turkish authorities due to suspected support of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK). He was also a columnist for the newspapers

Özgür Gündem ''Özgür Gündem'' (Turkish language, Turkish for "Free Agenda") was an Istanbul-based daily Turkish language newspaper, mainly read by Kurds. Launched in May 1992, the newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish confl ...

and

Evrensel ''Evrensel'' () is a Turkish daily newspaper. History and profile ''Evrensel'' was founded on 7 June 1995. The issues captured and written are from a socialist perspective. The paper is different from other Turkish newspapers in that it present ...

Political career

He was elected to the Turkish parliament for Kars as a representative for the HDP in the general election of June 2015, and again the snap elections of November 2015. He supported the defense of Kobani against the

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signif ...

(ISIL) in

Kobani Kobani, also Kobane, officially Ayn al-Arab, is a Kurdish-majority city in the Ayn al-Arab District in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the Syria–Turkey border. As a consequence of the Syrian civil war, the city came under the con ...

and was prosecuted for taking part in manifestations in October 2014 during the Siege of Kobani. He was arrested in spring 2017 and released in September of the same year. During his parliamentary career he advocated for Human Rights, Kurdish rights and the protection of the environment. In the local elections of March 2019 he was elected the Mayor of Kars. In May 2020, after several Municipalities won by the HDP were put under the authority of state appointed trustees, Bilgen received the support from dozens of human rights organization. On 2 October 2020, he was formally arrested and deposed as Mayor of Kars and replaced by a government-appointed trustee, the governor of

Kars Province Kars Province (; Azerbaijani: Qars Rayonu; ; ) is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its closed border with Armenia. Its area is 10,193 km2, and its population is 274,829 (2022). The pr ...

, Eyüp Tepe. He announced his resignation from his party, HDP, on 13 December 2021. He founded a new political party in 2022.

Legal prosecution

On 25 September 2020, he was detained together with several prominent HDP politicians like former deputies Sırrı Sureyya Önder and Ayla Akat Ata due to the Kobani protests which were held in support of the Kurdish population in the Syrian town of

in 2014, which was then besieged by the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

(ISIL). After he was arrested in October 2020, he was transferred to the

Ankara Sincan prison Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center (Etimesgut, Yenimahalle, Çankaya, Keçiören, Altındağ ...

. He was found not guilty of terrorism related charges in the Özgür Gündem trial on the 15 October 2020. On the 17 March 2021 the Turkish state prosecutor before 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 ...

Bekir Şahin Bekir Şahin (born 1 March 1960, Mecitözü, Turkey) is a jurist, former judge and the current State Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation in Turkey. Education He was educated at the Imam Hatip school and studied law at the Dokuz Eylül Univer ...

filed a lawsuit before 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 ru ...

demanding for him and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics. In June 2021, he was released following the third hearing of the Kobani trial.

References

External links

Personal Website

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilgen, Ayhan 21st-century mayors of places in Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Turkish Kurdish politicians 1970 births Living people Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians People from Kars