Başak Demirtaş (born 1977) is a Kurdish-Turkish teacher, author, and the wife of

Selahattin Demirtaş Selahattin Demirtaş (born 10 April 1973) is a politician, author, and former member of the parliament of Turkey. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro- Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 ...

, the former leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who she has been campaigning to get released from prison since 2016.

Early life

Başak was born and grew up in the

Sur Sur or SUR or El Sur (Spanish "the South") may refer to: Geography * Sur or Shur (Bible), the wilderness of Sur/Shur from the Book of Exodus * Sur (river), a river of Bavaria, Germany * Súr, a village in Hungary * Sur, a district of the city of ...

district of

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

. She is a teacher by training. She married Selahattin Demirtaş in 2002. Her husband is a leading democratic opposition leader in Turkey, active in

social democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

, and minorities rights parties. They have two daughters.

Support of jailed husband

Talking about her husband's arrest by Turkish authorities on November 4, 2016. She told

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

that it had reminded her of her own childhood: "They took my dad away in 1982. We were in Diyarbakır and the police also came in the middle of the night." Başak Demirtaş travels regularly from Diyarbakır to

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

in Turkey's North West to visit her husband. She told the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

that she tried to be her husband's voice outside the prison during the

2018 Turkish Presidential election Presidential elections were held in Turkey on 24 June 2018 as part of the 2018 general election, alongside parliamentary elections on the same day. They were the first direct presidential elections, following constitutional amendments approved ...

, in which he competed as the candidate for the HDP. On 6 June 2018, Selahattin Demirtaş made a campaign speech through his wife's phone from prison. She met with the EU Rapporteur

Kati Piri Kati Piri (born 8 April 1979) is a Hungarian-born Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), she previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) within the Prog ...

in 2018 to advocate for her husband's release. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

she campaigned for the inclusion of the political prisoners into a law which would release thousands of prisoners. She took part in the annual congress of the

Progressive Alliance The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of social democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Socia ...

in 2019 in Stockholm, where she received an Award for Political Courage on behalf of her husband Selahattin Demirtaş. In June 2020, she was the target of a sexual threat from a Twitter account, which lead to a wave of solidarity from human rights activists and female politicians. In September 2020, she quit her job as a teacher due to the unpredictable nature of her visits to her husband due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

crisis.

Trial

In November 2021, Demitraş and her doctor were sentenced to two and half years in jail each, for an inaccurate health certificate. The defense claimed the relevant records, proving the medical examination occurred in the context of heavy medical complications following a pregnancy

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical ...

, were not examined by the Turkish court and will appeal the judgment. The defense also claim this process is part of collective punishment and harassment of Turkish opposition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demirtaş, Başak 1977 births Living people Spouses of politicians Turkish educators Turkish Kurdish people