Tunahan Kuzu (born 5 June 1981) is a Dutch politician of

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

descent who served as an MP from 20 September 2012 until 5 December 2023. Initially he was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA) and on 13 November 2014 Kuzu and

Selçuk Öztürk Selçuk Öztürk (born 8 April 1972) is a Dutch politician of Turkish descent who served as an MP from 8 November 2012 until 30 March 2021. He is a former member of the Labour Party (PvdA). On 13 November 2014, Öztürk and Tunahan Kuzu left ...

left the Labour Party and formed the Group Kuzu/Öztürk, later renamed Denk ("Think"). On 18 November 2014, he became

Parliamentary group leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are th ...

. In the

2017 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to s ...

, the party secured three seats in the House of Representatives. He was succeeded as party leader by

Farid Azarkan Farid Azarkan (born 16 October 1971) is a Dutch politician who has been serving as the Leader of Denk since 26 September 2020. Additionally, he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 23 March 2017. Azarkan previously held the pos ...

in 2020.

Early life

Kuzu grew up in

Maassluis Maassluis () is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in and covered of which was water. It received town rights in 1811. History Maassluis was founded circa 1340 as a se ...

and studied

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...

. He worked as a

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

advisor for

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

, and was also a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

from 2008 to 2012.

Controversies

Relations with Israel

Kuzu attracted international attention in September 2016 when he refused to shake the hand of

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

before a meeting at the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( ) is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate (Netherlands), Senate () and the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of R ...

. In a statement posted to

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Kuzu explained his action as a protest against human rights abuses committed against

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

civilians in the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

. In May 2019, during a visit to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

to learn about the situation of the Palestinians in Israel, Kuzu was held up on the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...

while carrying a

Palestinian flag The flag of the State of Palestine () is a tricolour of three equal horizontal stripes—black, white, and green from top to bottom—overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. It displays the pan-Arab colours, which were first comb ...

. According to

, Kuzu was "taken by a large group of heavily armed soldiers". Kuzu was not arrested, however, he was stopped and released after an hour.

Electoral history

References

*
Parlement.com biography
1981 births Living people Denk politicians Dutch management consultants Dutch Muslims Dutch people of Turkish descent Dutch political party founders Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Independent politicians in the Netherlands Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Leaders of political parties in the Netherlands Municipal councillors of Rotterdam People from Maassluis Turkish emigrants to the Netherlands Dutch MPs 2012–2017 Dutch MPs 2017–2021 Dutch MPs 2021–2023 {{Netherlands-PvdA-politician-stub