Akın Birdal

Birdal co-founded the Human Rights Association of Turkey in 1986, and became its Secretary-General. He was elected its Chairman in 1992.[4] On 3 September 1996 he was detained accused of collaborating with the PKK for being part of a delegation who wanted to negotiate the release of Turkish soldiers captured by the PKK.[5] Eight captive soldiers were released. In December 1996 he was acquitted from the charges of collaborating with the PKK.[6] On 12 May 1998, Birdal barely survived an assassination attempt, when two assailants fired 13 shots at him in the office of the association.[7] The Turkish Revenge Brigade claimed responsibility.[8] In 1999 he was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment under Article 312 (of which he served 14 months) for speeches made in 1995 and 1996.[7][9] In his speeches, he was in favor of a peaceful solution in the conflict between Turkey and the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK).[10] He was released on medical reasons on 25 September 1999, but on 30 March 2000 a court ruled he must serve the rest of the sentence in prison.[11] In the year 1999 he was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.[12] In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the case breached Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Article 6.1 (right to a fair trial).[13]

In 2002 Birdal was one of the founders of the Socialist Democratic Party, becoming its chairman, but stepped down after becoming Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights.[3]

In July 2007, he stood as an independent candidate in the Turkish parliamentary elections and entered the Turkish Parliament, representing Diyarbakır.[14] He was supported by the Thousand Hopes Candidates political alliance. He joined the Democratic Society Party (DTP), and then the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in 2009.