Burcu Çelik Özkan

Burcu Çelik Özkan (born 1 January 1986, Muş[1]) is a former member of the Turkish parliament for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Burcu Çelik Özkan

MP
Born1 January 1986
Muş, Turkey
CitizenshipTurkish
Alma materMarmara University
TitleMember of Parliament
Political partyPeoples' Democratic Party

Education and professional career

Burcu Çelik Özkan has a law degree from the Marmara University. After she worked as a lawyer and was involved in the Libertarian Jurists Platform.[1]

Political career

Özkan was active in the local HDP branch of Beylikdüzü before being elected into parliament. Özkan was elected as an MP for Muş in the general elections in June 2015[2] and again in the snap elections in November 2015.[3] During her term she was a defender of LGBT rights[4]

Prosecution

Özkan was arrested in April 2017. She was condemned to 6 years imprisonment in a first trial for "committing crimes on behalf of an illegal organization without being a member", a sentence she appealed. In October 2017 the sentence was overturned and in February 2018 a new trial was ordered to take place.[1] On 10 April 2018, an appeal court in Turkey handed opposition MP Burcu Çelik Özkan a sentence of more than seven years in prison for terrorism propaganda.[5] On the 6 October 2019 the verdict was overruled by the court of cassation and she was subsequently released.[6]

References
  1. "Regional Court Overturns HDP MP's Prison Sentence". Bianet. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  2. Şafak, Yeni (2019-12-12). "Muş Seçim Sonuçları 2015 - Genel Seçim 2015". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  3. Şafak, Yeni (2019-12-12). "Muş Seçim Sonuçları 2015 - Genel Seçim Kasım 2015". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  4. Muedini, Fait (2018-12-06). LGBTI Rights in Turkey: Sexuality and the State in the Middle East. Cambridge University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-108-41724-2.
  5. "Turkish appeals court sentences opposition parliamentarian to seven years". Ahval. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  6. "Former HDP Muş MP Özkan Released". Bianet. Retrieved 11 December 2019.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.