The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement which historically operated throughout Kurdistan but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Since 1984,the PKK has utilized asymmetric warfare in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Although the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state,in the 1990s its goals changed to seeking autonomy and increased political and cultural rights for Kurds within Turkey.
Abdullah Öcalan,also known as Apo,is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Feleknas Uca is a Turkish politician of Kurdish descent. From 1999 to 2009,she was member of the European Parliament from Germany,serving with Die Linke. Feleknas Uca was at one time the world's only Yazidi parliamentarian until the Iraqi legislature was elected in 2005. In June 2015,she was elected as a Member of Parliament in Turkey representing Diyarbakır.
Osman Baydemir is a Kurdish politician,lawyer and human rights activist of Kurdish descent. He was the mayor of his home town of Diyarbakır from 2004 to 2014. He was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and also the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP).
Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey,beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the present day with the current PKK–Turkey conflict.
Ahmet Türk is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). He has been a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for several terms and was elected twice as the Mayor of Mardin. He was born into a family of Kurdish clan and tribal chiefs in southeastern Turkey.
Selahattin Demirtaş is a Turkish politician,author,political prisoner and former member of the parliament of Turkey. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP),serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağfrom 2014 to 2018.
Selma Irmak,is a Kurdish politician from Turkey and former MP for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and People`s Democratic Party (HDP).
Erol Dora is a lawyer and a politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). A member of the Assyrian people community in Turkey,he is a well-known advocate for minority rights,Assyrian particularly the human rights situation of Turkey's Christian minorities.
Mithat Sancar is a Turkish professor of public and constitutional law,columnist,and translator of Arab descent. He has been an MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish parliament since the June 2015 general election and was elected Co-Chair of the party in February 2020.
The Civil Protection Units,also known as Civil Defense Units,is a primarily Kurdish rebel group and main armed force in Turkish Kurdistan. The YPS was formed by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to better organize and train the youth fighters in the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement,otherwise known as the YDG-H. In 2015 the YDG-H reorganized themselves in to what is known as the YPS today.
Tuğba Hezer Öztürk is a Turkish politician from Kurdish descent of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former Member of the Grand National Assembly for of Van.
Abdullah Zeydan is a Turkish politician of Kurdish descent and a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP).
Gülser Yıldırım is a Turkish Kurd politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. In 2011,she was elected into the Turkish parliament out of prison,but had to wait until 2014 until she was allowed to assume by a Turkish court.
Çağlar Demirel is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin and a former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
The People's Democratic Party closure case refers to a legal procedure during which the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is threatened with closure while hundreds of its politicians face a political ban for five years. The HDP was accused to have organizational ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Sibel Yiğitalp is a politician of Kurdish descent and a former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the People's Democratic Party (HDP).
Mizgin Irgat is a Turkish lawyer and politician of Kurdish origin. She is a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
Alican Önlü is a politician of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) and a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Throughout his political career he was a politician in a variety of parties such as the Democracy Party (DEP) and the Democratic Society Party (DTP).
