Dilek Öcalan (born 3 October 1987) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who served as a Member of Parliament for the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain about east of the Eup ...

, Turkey, from 2015 to 2018. She is the niece of

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

, the

imprisoned Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

leader 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) militant organisation that has been in conflict with the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

since the 1980s, making both her candidacy and election to the Grand National Assembly controversial.

Early life

Öcalan was born on 3 October 1987 in Halfeti, Sanlıurfa, as daughter of Fatma Öcalan, the sister of imprisoned PKK leader

. She has a tourism degree from university. On 23 December 2013, she visited her uncle at

İmralı prison İmralı prison is a high-security prison on the island of İmralı in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey. It holds prisoners from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and one prisoner of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist (TKP/ML). The pris ...

and became known to the media after she gave a press statement detailing the conversation between them. Öcalan has been imprisoned since 1999, serving a sentence of aggravated life imprisonment under charges of founding and leading

Political career

Öcalan first entered politics in 2012, a year before meeting her uncle on the Island of

İmralı İmralı is a small Turkish prison island in the south of the Sea of Marmara, west of the Armutlu- Bozburun peninsula within Bursa Province. It measures in the north–south direction with a width of , and has an area of . The highest peak ...

. During the third congress of the pro-Kurdish

Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party (, , BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 2008, following the closure of the latter party for its alleged conne ...

(BDP), she was elected to the party executive while the party changed its name to

Democratic Regions Party The Democratic Regions Party (, DBP, , PHD) is a Kurdish political party in the Republic of Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called Ea ...

(DBP) and adopted a fraternal relationship with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Member of Parliament

Öcalan's candidacy to become a Member of Parliament despite being the niece of Abdullah Öcalan was heavily controversial, drawing strong opposition from

Turkish nationalists Turkish nationalism () is nationalism among the people of Turkey and individuals whose national identity is Turkish. Turkish nationalism consists of political and social movements and sentiments prompted by a love for Turkish culture, Turkish ...

. Her candidacy also allegedly caused a split within the Öcalan family. Nevertheless, she was put forward as a HDP candidate for the

, being fielded as the second candidate on the HDP's provincial party list. She was subsequently elected in the June 2015 general election to become one of the youngest MPs in the new Parliament, resulting in her being appointed to the temporary Speaker's Council until a new Council could be elected in July. In the snap elections in November 2015 Öcalan was reelected as an MP.

Prosecution

On 1 February 2017 an arrest warrant was issued for Öcalan. She was detained on 7 February, and released the same day, after which she left Turkey and went into exile. On 1 March 2018 she was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for spreading terror propaganda during a speech she held at a funeral.

References

External links