Mehmet Sıraç Bilgin

Mehmet Sıraç Bilgin (1944–2015) was a Kurdish poet and politician. He was a prisoner several times until he went into exile to Sweden where he worked as an X-ray technician. He was a descendant of a leader of the Sheikh Said rebellion.

Early life and education

He was born in 1944 in Syria where his father Abdulhamit was in exile. At the age of six he entered one year into an Armenian school in Syria. The next year, after an amnesty allowed it, the family returned to Turkey where they settled in Bingöl. He began to study medicine at the Ankara University but after two months of studies, he was expelled for political activities. In 1966 he successfully appealed his expulsion, but was not allowed to follow up on his studies.[1] In 1979 he graduated as a medic from the Dicle University in Diyarbakir.[2] He established himself as a doctor in Bingöl until he left to exile to Sweden in the 1980s.[1]

Political career

His political views were influenced by the Barzanis of Iraq and other Kurdish intellectuals like Musa Anter or Yaşar Kaya and he was affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Turkey (TKDP). He was imprisoned after the Military coups in 1971 and 1980 but both times released after some time. In 2009, Turkey issued arrest warrants against more than twenty Members of the Kurdish Parliament in Exile, among which also former politicians of the Turkish Democracy Party (DEP) figured.[1] In 2014 Turkey granted a non-arrest assurance in case the defendants would return to Turkey within three months.[3]

Literary career and exile

While in exile he took up writing and became a contributor to the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem.[2] In addition, he published several books[1] and worked as an X-ray technician at the Uppsala University Hospital.

Death and aftermath

He died in 2015 in the Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. Despite this, Turkey demanded his extradition from Sweden, after the country made a NATO accession bid in May 2022.[4][5][6][7]

References
  1. Demirel, Ferid (20 May 2022). "Turkey wants Sweden to extradite Kurdish author who died 7 years ago". Bianet. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  2. Hirschler, Konrad (2001). "Defining the Nation: Kurdish Historiography in Turkey in the 1990s". Middle Eastern Studies. 37 (3): 145–166. doi:10.1080/714004406. ISSN 0026-3206. JSTOR 4284177. S2CID 59445286 – via JSTOR.
  3. "Ankara court releases non-arrest assurance for senior PKK leaders - Turkey News". Hürriyet. 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  4. AA, Daily Sabah with (20 May 2022). "Sweden fails to cooperate with Turkey in fight against terror: Report". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  5. Nordahl, Jesper (22 May 2022). "Vil ha utlevert død lege". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  6. De Niazi, Daniel (23 May 2022). "Tyrkia vil ha død lege utlevert". Extra avisen (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  7. Güsten, Susanne (28 May 2022). "So erpresst die Türkei den Westen im Nato-Streit". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
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