Erdemir announced his decision to quit active politics in March 2015,stating that he would like to spend more time with his two daughters while also noting that the Turkish Parliament does not accommodate the needs of parents with young children. [15]
Legislative Work
Erdemir's legislative work between 2011 and 2015 was focused on freedom of religion or belief,minority rights,discrimination,hate crimes,and hate speech.
In parliament,Erdemir's first legislative initiative was to file a motion to establish an Ad-Hoc Parliamentary Committee on Hate Crimes. [16] He later encouraged the Turkish government to draft a comprehensive hate crimes law,warning that "the issue cannot be reduced to Islamophobia" and criticized the absence of institutional mechanisms to track and report hate crimes in Turkey. [17] In December 2012,in coordination with the umbrella group Hate Crimes Law Campaign Platform,he drafted a comprehensive hate crimes bill, [18] which was later incorporated into the Turkish government's hate crimes bill of June 2014. [19] Erdemir has criticized the government bill as a deficient law that acknowledges hate crimes,but fails to provide any real protections. [20]
Erdemir has been one of the most outspoken critics of antisemitism in Turkey. In September 2014,at a press conference he held at the Turkish Parliament to mark Rosh Hashanah,citing a recent study by the Anti-Defamation League,he warned that "Turkey tops Iran in antisemitism league." [21] The next month,he filed a motion to set up an Ad-Hoc Parliamentary Committee on Antisemitism to look into discrimination,hate speech,and hate crimes targeting Turkey's Jewish community,a first in the history of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. [22] In November 2013,at the height of the Turkey-Israel flotilla crisis,Erdemir traveled to Israel to attend a conference at Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Truman Institute for Peace to promote Turkish-Israeli rapprochement,and stated that "politicians can give you many reasons why this can’t happen,but it takes a statesman to build peace.” [23] In an op-ed he later penned for The Times of Israel,he warned that "real rapprochement with Israel requires Turkey to tackle antisemitism." [24]
Erdemir has also been an outspoken defender of Turkey's Christian minorities. In December 2013,through a parliamentary inquiry,he exposed the restrictions imposed by Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism on worship at historical churches. [25] In May 2014,he exposed that the Turkish Parliament had been blocking access to Diyarbakır Protestant Church by classifying it as a "pornographic website." [26] He called the ban "humiliating,embarrassing,and defaming," and succeeded in revoking the ban after raising the issue with the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Cemil Çiçek,a development he referred to as "a small step for internet freedoms in Turkey,but a big step for internet freedom in the Parliament.” [27] Erdemir later visited the Ahmet Güvener,the pastor of the Diyarbakır Protestant Church,ahead of Sunday service to offer apologies to him and his flock on behalf of the Turkish Parliament. [28] In June 2013,Erdemir prepared a draft bill to lift the ban on Greek language instruction for the Eastern Orthodox Christian minority residing on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. [29] He also supported Turkey's Armenian community by attending the Easter liturgy at Diyarbakır's St. Giragos Armenia Church [30] and the first baptism in a century at Van's Cathedral of the Holy Cross on the Akdamar Island. [31]
In April 2015,Erdemir prepared a draft bill for the restitution of citizenship to all ethnic and religious minorities and their descendants who have lost their citizenship within the last hundred years,which would restore rights to Turkey's Armenian,Greek,Syriac,and Jewish communities among others. [32]
Although Erdemir is a member of Turkey's Sunni Muslim majority,he has been an outspoken advocate of the rights and freedoms of the country's Alevi community. In February 2015,Erdemir drafted a bill to grant legal status to Alevi worship places,in an attempt to remedy a longstanding grievance of Turkey's Alevis. [33]
