Cihan Erdal

Last updated
Cihan Erdal
OccupationSociologist
AwardsSSHRC Doctoral award

Cihan Erdal is a Turkish Sociology pursuing his PhD at Carleton University in Ottawa, who was imprisoned in Turkey between September 2020-June 2021 due to his early life involvement with the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party following a politically-motivated mass arrest.

Contents

Detention by Turkish government

On 25 September 2020, Erdal was one of dozens of people arrested and accused of links to terrorism, only hours after he arrived in Istanbul to conduct research for his doctorate. [1] [2] Most of these people had been supportive of the People's Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish, leftist political party in Turkey. [3] Erdal is a Canadian permanent resident, and his arrest was condemned by numerous Canadian organisations, including his university and unions like the UNPGE. [4] Erdal was arrested within hours of landing in Turkey, and he was held in solitary confinement for the first 26 days of his detention. [5]

The Department of Sociology at Carleton University condemned Erdal's arrest, saying that "The charges stem from events back in 2014, which the Turkish government are using to continue persecuting members of the leftist HDP political party, the third largest party in Turkey’s parliament". [6] Erdal was "carrying out research for his doctoral dissertation on youth-led social movements in Europe when anti-terror police burst into his rental flat at 9 a.m. and hauled him away", according to Al Monitor journalist Amberin Zaman. [7] In April of 2021, a judge denied Erdal pre-trial bail, forcing him to remain in prison up until his trial date despite the protest of human rights advocates. [8]

Release and return to Canada

Erdal was released from custody in June 2021, but remained in Turkey at the time while awaiting permission from Turkey to leave the country. [9] After several months, he instead found political asylum in a third country after walking hours from where he was located in Turkey, and was about to contact the Canadian consulat from a border camp in order to arrange his return to Canada. Erdal returned to Canada in September in 2022. [5]

Research career

Carleton University has written of Erdal's graduate studies career that, "Erdal's M.A. thesis focused on the reproduction of abilik (big brotherhood), a form of institutionalized hierarchy based on age, experience, and gender faced by youth in the left political space of Turkey in the 2000s." [10] In 2020, Erdal received an SSHRC Doctoral scholarship from the Canadian government. [11] In 2022 Erdal contributed a chapter to the book Young People, Radical Democracy and Community Development (Rethinking Community Development), [12] edited by Janet Batsleer, Harriet Rowley, and Demet Lüküslü, published by Policy Press. [13]

Personal life

Erdal is a member of the LGBT community, and there were concern raised for his treatment by Turkish authorities during his detention because of this. [14] He became a permanent resident of Canada prior to his detention. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feleknas Uca</span> Turkish politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyla Zana</span> Kurdish politician

Leyla Zana is a Turkish politician of Kurdish descent. She was imprisoned for ten years for her political activism, which was deemed by the Turkish courts to be against the unity of the country. She was awarded the 1995 Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament but was unable to collect it until her release in 2004. She was also awarded the Rafto Prize in 1994 after being recognized by the Rafto Foundation for being incarcerated for her peaceful struggle for the human rights of the Kurdish people in Turkey and the neighbouring countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebahat Tuncel</span> Kurdish politician in Turkey

Sebahat Tuncel is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin, women's rights advocate, former nurse and member of the Parliament in Turkey. She was elected a member of parliament while being in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmet Türk</span> Turkish politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selahattin Demirtaş</span> Kurdish politician

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 Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyla Güven</span> Kurdish politician

Leyla Güven is HDP MP for Hakkari, co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) and former mayor of the municipality of Viranşehir in the Şanlıurfa Province of Southeast Anatolia of Turkey, where she represented the former Democratic Society Party (DTP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selma Irmak</span> Turkish politician

Selma Irmak, is a Kurdish politician from Turkey and former MP for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and People`s Democratic Party (HDP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey)</span> Pluralist leftist Turkish political party

The Peoples' Democratic Party, or Democratic Party of the Peoples, is a pro-minority political party in Turkey. Generally left-wing, the party places a strong emphasis on participatory and radical democracy, feminism, LGBT rights, minority rights, youth rights and egalitarianism. It is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES), a consultative member of the Socialist International and a party within the Progressive Alliance (PA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Kobanî protests</span> Kurdish protests in Turkey

The 2014 Kobanî protests in Turkey are large-scale rallies by pro-People's Defense Units (YPG) protestors in Turkey in autumn 2014, as a spillover of the crisis in Kobanî. Large demonstrations unfolded in Turkey, and quickly descended into violence between protesters and the Turkish police. Several military incidents between Turkish forces and militants of the Youth Wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in south-eastern Turkey, contributed to the escalation. Protests then spread to various cities in Turkey. Protesters were met with tear gas and water cannons, and initially 12 people were killed. A total of 31 people were killed in subsequent protesting up to 14 October.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Figen Yüksekdağ</span> Turkish politician

Figen Yüksekdağ Şenoğlu is a Turkish politician and journalist, who was a former co-leader of the left-wing Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey from 2014 to 2017, serving alongside Selahattin Demirtaş. She was a Member of Parliament for Van since the June 2015 general election until her parliamentary membership was revoked by the courts on 21 February 2017. Her party membership and therefore her co-leadership position were revoked by the courts on 9 March 2017 following a six-year prison sentence for distributing "terrorist propaganda".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithat Sancar</span> Turkish politician

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 2016–present purges in Turkey are a series of purges by the Government of Turkey enabled by a state of emergency in reaction to the 15 July failed coup d'état. The purges began with the arrest of Turkish Armed Forces personnel reportedly linked to the coup attempt but arrests were expanded to include other elements of the Turkish military, as well as civil servants and private citizens. These later actions reflected a power struggle between secularist and Islamist political elites in Turkey, affected people who were not active in nor aware of the coup, but who the government claimed were connected with the Gülen movement, an opposition group which the government blamed for the coup. Possession of books authored by Gülen was considered valid evidence of such a connection and cause for arrest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferhat Encü</span>

Ferhat Encü is a Kurdish–Turkish politician and former member of the Turkish Parliament in the Sirnak Province. Encü is well known for a speech that he gave on the floor of the Parliament in Ankara. In his speech, Encü criticized the Turkish government for their violence and mistreatment of the Kurds. After delivering the speech, Encü was arrested and stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayhan Bilgen</span> Turkish politician

Ayhan Bilgen is a journalist, politician and former mayor of Kars from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ömer Öcalan</span> Kurdish politician in Turkey

Ömer Öcalan is a politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a current member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fahrettin Altun</span> Turkish politician

Fahrettin Altun is a Тurkish politician, researcher, academic, member of the Justice and Development Party and head of media and communications in the Turkish presidency.

Musa Farisoğulları is a Kurdish politician and a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

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).

Dersim Dağ is a politician of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) and a member of the Turkish Parliament. With 22 years of age when elected, she was one of the youngest parliamentarians.

Ali Kemal Özcan is a Turkish academic and lecturer at the Munzur University in Tunceli. He is known for his research regarding the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its leader Abdullah Öcalan.

References

  1. ↑ "Cihan Erdal and the Fight for a Democratic Progressive Voice in Turkey". MIR. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  2. ↑ "Lawyer urges government to press Turkey on detained Carleton student | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  3. ↑ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "US slams Turkey's plan to ban pro-Kurdish party | DW | 18.03.2021". DW.COM. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  4. ↑ "Free Cihan Erdal, NUPGE urges Canadian govt. | National Union of Public and General Employees". nupge.ca. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  5. 1 2 "Carleton PhD student returns to Canada after imprisonment in Turkey Social Sharing". CBC News. September 13, 2022.
  6. ↑ Raymond, Ted (2020-09-29). "Carleton University denounces detention of Canadian PhD candidate in Turkey". Ottawa. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  7. ↑ Zaman, Amberin (2020-10-28). "Turkish academic in Canada caught up in Ankara's anti-Kurdish sweep". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  8. ↑ Kimberley Molina (April 4, 2021). "Carleton PhD student arrested in Turkey denied bail". CBC News.
  9. 1 2 Nil Köksal, Ryan Patrick Jones (June 15, 2021). "Carleton student Cihan Erdal freed from Turkish prison". CBC News.
  10. ↑ "Current Graduate Students". Carleton University.
  11. ↑ "Previous Graduate Award Winners". Carleton University.
  12. ↑ "Cihan Erdal, Sociology PhD Student, Co-Publishes New Book "Young People, Radical Democracy and Community Development"". Carleton University. September 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Young People, Radical Democracy and Community Development (Rethinking Community Development)". Policy Press.
  14. ↑ "Five Turkish students arrested over LGBTQ-themed work". www.theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.