Abdullah Demirbaş
Turkish politician (born 1966)
title: "Abdullah Demirbaş" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1966-births", "turkish-schoolteachers", "turkish-kurdish-politicians", "living-people", "turkish-human-rights-activists", "mayors-of-places-in-turkey", "democratic-regions-party-politicians"] description: "Turkish politician (born 1966)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Demirbaş" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Turkish politician (born 1966) ::
Abdullah Demirbaş (born 1966, Sise, Diyarbakir, Turkey) was s former mayor of the municipality of Sur in the city of Diyarbakir, of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Abdullah_Demîrbaş.jpg" caption="Abdullah Demîrbaş"] ::
Early life and education
After graduating in sociology at Firat University in Elazig, Abdullah Demirbas worked as a philosophy teacher from 1987 to 2007, contributing to setting up the Mardin Branch of the Turkish Union of Teachers.{{cite web |title=Abdullah Demirbas |publisher=World Conference on City Diplomacy |year=2008 |url=http://www.citydiplomacy.org/speakers/abdullah-demirbas.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414130018/http://www.citydiplomacy.org/speakers/abdullah-demirbas.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-04-14 |accessdate=2009-09-21
Political career
When he was elected as Mayor of Sur in 2004, he made a commitment to his electorate to serve them in their own languages.{{cite web |title= Dismissed Turkish Mayor Continues Quest to Make Kurdish Language Official |publisher=Kurdish Academy |date=2008-07-30 |url= http://www.kurdishacademy.org/?q=node/256 |accessdate=2009-09-22}} On the 6 October 2006 the Sur municipal council decided that since the population of the town has people who speak Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac and Armenian, the municipality will be conducted on a multilingual basis. In 2007 he was removed from his functions, together with the entire municipal council, for using the Kurdish language in official business.{{cite web |title= Multilingualism as a Separatist Crime |publisher=Quantara |year=2007 |url= http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-1204/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-814/i.html |accessdate=2009-09-21}} He was accused of the misuse of municipal resources, having printed a children's book and tourist brochures in Kurdish.{{cite news |title= Minority Rules |work=New York Times |date=2008-02-17 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17turkey-t.html?pagewanted=all |accessdate=2009-09-21 | first=Meline | last=Toumani}} Demirbaş accused the prosecution of discrimination arguing that Municipalities which also offer their services in languages other than Turkish have not been targeted with an investigation.
The Congress of the Council of Europe took up his case in its 2007 report and Recommendation 229 on Local Democracy in Turkey.{{cite web |title= Recommendation 229 - Local Democracy in Turkey |publisher=Congress of the Council of Europe |date=2007-11-21 |url= https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1458880&SecMode=1&DocId=1167298&Usage=2 |accessdate=2009-12-31}}{{cite web |title= Local Democracy in Turkey |publisher=Congress of the Council of Europe |date=2007-09-18 |url= https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1183385&Site=Congress&BackColorInternet=e0cee1&BackColorIntranet=e0cee1&BackColorLogged=FFC679#RelatedDocuments |accessdate=2009-12-31}}
In the local elections of March 2009, he was re-elected with a stronger majority. However, the prosecutions against him continued and in May 2009 he was sentenced to 2 years in jail for language crimes.{{cite web |title= Kurdish mayor Abdullah Demirbas sentenced to jail |publisher=Transnational Middle East Observer |date=2009-05-05 |url= https://vvanwilgenburg.blogspot.com/2009/05/kurdish-mayor-abdullah-demirbas.html |accessdate=2009-09-21}}
He is a campaigner for minority languages and has called on Turkey to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.{{cite web |title= Former Kurdish mayor Demirbas blames Turkey for everything |publisher=Kurd Net |date=2009-01-19 |url= http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2009/1/turkeykurdistan2083.htm |accessdate=2009-09-21}}
His project - "A Story for each night and every house is a School" - aimed to publish 365 stories for children in Kurdish and other minority languages.{{cite web |title= Transforming Every House into a School |publisher=Kurdish Herald |date=July 2009 |url= http://www.kurdishherald.com/issue/003/article06.php |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101207015403/http://kurdishherald.com/issue/003/article06.php |url-status= usurped |archive-date= December 7, 2010 |accessdate=2009-09-21}} A court case against him concerning this project was dropped in September 2009.{{cite web |title= No Trial for Teaching Kurdish |publisher=Bianet |date=2009-09-11 |url= http://bianet.org/english/minorities/117000-no-trial-for-teaching-kurdish# |accessdate=2009-09-21}}
On 24 December 2009 he was detained as part of a widespread crackdown against members of the former DTP party. On 30 December he issued an open letter from prison pleading for medical treatment and drawing attention to the political nature of his arrest.{{cite web |title= Open letter of Abdullah Demirbas |publisher=United States of Kurdistan |date=2009-12-30 |url= https://unitedstatesofkurdistan16.blogspot.com/2009/12/open-letters-of-abdullah-demirbas.html |accessdate=2009-12-31}} He was released on 15 May 2010 on medical grounds. |title= Mayor of Sur Demirbaş back to work |publisher= Firat News Agency |date= 2010-05-17 |url= http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=59 |accessdate= 2010-05-18 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100521054125/http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=59 |archive-date= 2010-05-21 |url-status= dead
In 2011 the Turkish press reported that his life was at risk because a travel ban imposed by the authorities prevented him from getting the medical care that he needed.{{cite web |title= Travel ban on mayor poses risk for his life |publisher=Hurriyet Daily News |date=2011-10-18 |url= http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=travel-ban-on-mayor-poses-risk-for-his-life-2011-10-18 |accessdate=2011-10-19}}
On 9 August 2015 he was arrested and several charges were brought against him.
References
References
- Khatchadourian, Raffi. (29 December 2014). "A Century of Silence".
- "THE BUREAU OF THE CONGRESS".
- Önderoglu, Erol. (9 November 2007). "Multilingual Diyarbakir Municipality on Trial".
- Haroian, Ani. (2015-09-01). "Mayor Abdullah Demirbaş Arrested in Diyarbakir".
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