Fehmi Demir

Fehmi Demir was born on 2 January 1957 in the Kurdish town of Yeniceoba (İncov) in the district of Cihanbeyli, Konya Province. He was the eldest of 6 children. He was educated at the Yeniceoba town school and completed his middle and high school education in Cihanbeyli. He graduated from the Eskişehir Commercial Sciences Academy Faculty of Economics, which would later become the Anadolu University. During his student years, he was active in pro-Kurdish university and political societies, also taking up roles in the Eskişehir Halkevleri.[1]

During the 1990s, Demir was active in pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey. He was a founding member of the People's Labour Party (HEP) and was part of the party council. He was also a founding member of the Democracy Party (DEP) and became the party's Vice General Secretary. He later became a founding member of the Democracy and Change Party (DDP) and was the General Secretary until the party was closed down. He was part of the founding members of the Peace and Democracy Party (DBP) and served as the General Secretary of the DBP until the founding of the Rights and Freedoms Party, in which he served as Deputy Leader until he was elected as its Leader.[2]

On 25 October 2015, Demir suffered a traffic accident on a motorway in Tarsus, Mersin Province, after his vehicle crashed into another car with an Austrian license plate that had broken down. Both Demir and Hacı Murat Doğu, the driver of the Austrian vehicle, were critically injured and later died at the scene. They were transferred to Tarsus State Hospital after the crash.[4] His funeral took place in his hometown of Cihanbeyli, Konya Province and was attended by many pro-Kurdish political leaders including the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş.[5]