Figen Yüksekdağ

Figen Yüksekdağ (2014)

Figen Yüksekdağ (born November 9, 1971 in Ceyhan , Adana ) is a Turkish politician . She was a member of the Grand National Assembly and, along with Selahattin Demirtaş, co-chair of the opposition party Halkların Demokratie Partisi (HDP). Both were withdrawn from her by the authorities.

Life

Figen Yüksekdağ was the ninth of ten children in a farm household in Gölovası Village , Yumurtalık County, Adana Province. She describes her family as religious, conservative and nationalist. Even so, her father made it very important that his daughters study and be successful. During her time at high school, she began to be politically active and joined the labor movement. When she was arrested at a May Day demonstration, there was a conflict in the family. Yüksekdağ left home at the age of 18 and went to Istanbul; later the relationship with her family normalized again.

Political career

For the 2002 parliamentary elections , she ran for the first time as an independent candidate in the Adana constituency. For several years she was active in the women's rights movement, then editor of the socialist women's magazine. Because of her political activities on the board of directors of the newspaper Atılım published by the Marksist Leninist Komünist Parti , she was arrested in 2009 during a demonstration. In prison, she married the newspaper's news chief, Sedat Şenoğlu. After her release in 2010 she was one of the founders of the Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi , from January 29, 2010 she was its chairman. On September 7, 2014, she resigned and joined the HDP. In the same year, the ESP then joined the HDP, which acts as an umbrella party for several small parties. On June 22, 2014, Figen Yüksekdağ was elected co-chair of the HDP's 2nd ordinary party congress.

In the parliamentary elections on June 7, 2015 , the HDP received 13.1 percent and 80 of the 550 seats in the National Assembly. If the HDP had failed to pass the ten percent hurdle , the Islamic-conservative ruling party AKP would have had an absolute majority in parliament. Yüksekdağ is a MP for Van Province .

In the summer of 2015, she raised serious allegations against the Turkish government: the fight against terrorism that Turkey is waging is clearly not being waged against the terrorist militia " Islamic State " (IS), but against the Kurdish forces. There is a strategic and ideological proximity between the Turkish government and the IS. Air strikes were not carried out against the IS, but against the Kurdish movement. Turkey has been supporting IS for almost three years. Fighters are trained in training camps within Turkey and sent across the border.

In the early parliamentary election on November 1, 2015 , the HDP received 10.8 percent of the vote and 59 of the 550 seats in parliament. The AKP received 317 seats with 49.5 percent and thus an absolute majority in parliament.

Legal situation and processes

Waiver of immunity and arrest

In May 2016, at the instigation of President Erdogan, the immunity of numerous HDP members in the Turkish parliament was lifted. On the evening of November 3, 2016, after the arrest of tens of thousands of people who were allegedly threatening the state and critical of the government, HDP party leaders Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ and at least 13 other HDP members were arrested. Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier criticized the politically motivated arrests. He stated to act the right against terrorism should "not be used as justification for making the political opposition silenced or bring even behind bars." Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel , German President Joachim Gauck and representatives of the EU and the United States criticized the arrests.

Accuse

In July 2015, the public prosecutor initiated an investigation against Selahattin Demirtaş and shortly afterwards against Yüksekdağ. She is accused of propaganda for the Kurdish organization YPG , which the government classifies as terrorist . The reason was a public appearance in the summer of 2015, during which she expressed her solidarity with the PYD and the YPG.

Convictions

In February 2017, Yüksekdağ was revoked after a final conviction to 10 months in prison. She was accused of propaganda for the PKK. In the following month, after a court ruling, her party membership and chairmanship were revoked.

In April 2017, Yüksekdağ was sentenced to 1 year in prison for a speech she gave in February 2015 on the 16th anniversary of the kidnapping of Abdullah Öcalan.