Ziya Pir

Ziya Pir (born 1970 in Torul, Gümüşhane Province, Turkey) is a Turkish and German entrepreneur and politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Ziya Pir
MP
Member of the Grand National Assembly
Assumed office
7 June 2015
ConstituencyDiyarbakır
Personal details
Born1970
Torul, Gümüşhane Province, Turkey
Political partyPeople's Democratic Party (HDP)

Early life and education

Born in Turkey, Pir mostly grew up in Western Germany. Affiliated with the German liberal-conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, in 1999, Pir joined the CDU German-Turkish Forum. In 2002, he was tasked by Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with developing an organization for Turkish expatriates in Germany, the Union of European-Turkish Democrats (UETD). Appalled by both the UETD's increasing alignment with the AKP party and Erdoğans increasingly authoritarian conduct, he later broke with both.[1]

Political career in Turkey

Pir, who is a nephew of the famous ethnic Turkish co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Kemal Pir, in 2015 decided to return to Turkey in order to join the newly founded pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP. In the June 2015 general election he was elected to represent his Diyarbakır constituency in the Turkish parliament[2] and was later confirmed in the November 2015 snap election.[3] In November 2016 he was arrested together with 10 other parliamentarians of the HDP party.[4] He was released from detention after he delivered his testimony concerning an indictment around an alleged insult of a public officer to the prosecutor of Diyarbakir.[5] In late 2017 he received a suspended sentence of 11 months and 20 days for calling the prosecutor who ordered raids on the Dicle Haber Ajansi, Azadiya Welat, KURDÎ-DER and Aram Publishing in Diyarbakır province on 28 September 2015, during which 32 journalists were detained a "candidate as a palace jester".[6] In December 2017, his parliamentary immunity was demanded to be lifted due to him organizing a protest while "sitting on the stairs" in front of the BDP party building in Diyarbakır.[7] On the 17 March 2021, the Turkish state prosecutor before the Court of Cassation Bekir Şahin filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court demanding for Pir and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban on political activities.[8] The lawsuit was filed together with request for a closure of the HDP due to their alleged organizational links with the PKK.[9]

References
  1. Sinan Sat (10 June 2015). "Ein Duisburger zieht ins türkische Parlament ein". Der Westen (in German).
  2. Dimitri Bettoni (6 July 2015). "Ziya Pir, a vision on Turkey". Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso - Transeuropa.
  3. "Minority MPs preserve seats in Nov 1 election". Hürriyet Daily News. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  4. Deniz Yücel (4 November 2016). ""Sie sind ein Bandit und Ihr Staatsanwalt auch!"". Die Welt (in German).
  5. "Turkey: Arrested HDP lawmaker released after testimony". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  6. SCF (1 November 2017). "Turkish court sentences pro-Kurdish deputy Pir for 11-month prison over alleged insult". Stockholm Center for Freedom. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. "Summary of Proceedings for HDP's Pir for 'Sitting on Stairs'". Bianet - Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  8. "HDP indictment seeks political ban for 687 members, including Demirtaş, Buldan and Sancar". Bianet. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  9. "Turkish prosecutor seeks political ban on 687 pro-Kurdish politicians". www.duvarenglish.com. Gazete Duvar. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
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