Atilla Sertel

Atilla Sertel became the President of the Federation of Journalists of Turkey on 27 September 2009, having also been an executive board member and the President of the İzmir Branch of the Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC).[3] During his tenure, he voiced criticism of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and their alleged suppression of press freedoms in Turkey.[4][5] He resigned from the Presidency to contest the June 2015 general election.[6]

In the 1991 general election, Sertel became a candidate from the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) from the electoral district of İzmir. However, due to a 25% election threshold imposed in each district, he was not elected since the SHP won 23.8% of the district vote. However, with 14,820 preference votes, he managed to gain first place on the SHP's provincial candidate list despite initially being listed in second place.[7]

Atilla Sertel resigned as the President of the Turkish Journalists Federation on 20 February 2015 in order to contest the June 2015 general election. He entered the nomination primary elections for İzmir's second electoral district and came third, though the existence of quota candidates chosen exclusively by the party leader meant that he secured sixth place in the lists overall. Following a complaint by anonymous CHP activists, the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey annulled his candidacy on the grounds that he attended a general assembly meeting of the Press Release Foundation (BİK) after a deadline for candidates to end their affiliations to such establishments.[8] Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu reacted by vowing to suspend the memberships of the unknown CHP supporters who filed the complaint.[9]

Atilla Sertel was placed in 6th place on the CHP candidate lists in time for the November 2015 snap general election and was elected as a Member of Parliament.