Şerafettin Elçi

Şerafettin Elçi
Minister of Public Works
In office January 5, 1978 – November 12, 1979
Prime Minister	Bülent Ecevit
Preceded by	Mehmet Selahattin Kılıç
Succeeded by	Mehmet Selahattin Kılıç
Personal details
Born	(1938-03-14)March 14, 1938 Cizre, Şırnak Province, Turkey
Died	Ankara, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Political party	Participatoric Democracy Party (KADEP)
Spouse(s)	Fatma Elçi
Children	7
Education	Law
Alma mater	Ankara University, Law School
Occupation	Politician, lawyer
Ethnicity	Kurdish

Şerafettin Elçi (March 14, 1938 – December 25, 2012) was an intellectual Turkish lawyer, politician, government minister and statesman of Kurdish origin. He was one of the pioneers of Kurdish politics in Turkey.

Early years

Şerafettin Elçi was born in Cizre, Şırnak Province on March 14, 1938. He finished primary education in his hometown. After completing secondary education in Mardin, he studied law at Ankara University, Law School.

During his university years, he was tried in the "Case of Kurdish Propagandists" (Turkish: Kürtçülük Davası), so-called "Case of the 49s" under accusation of making Kurdish propaganda.

After graduation, he pursued a career as a lawyer in Cizre. Following the 1971 Turkish coup d'état, Şerafettin Elçi was tried along with the members of the "Turkey Kurdistan Democratic Party" at the Diyarbakır Military Court, and was incarcerated in the Diyarbakır Military Prison for about eight months.

Political career

Following the general elections held on June 5, 1977, Elçi entered the parliament as a deputy of Mardin Province. He was then among the eleven independent politicians, who left Süleyman Demirel's Justice Party (AP) and was offered on December 22, 1977 a minister seat in the cabinet to be newly formed by the Republican People's Party leader Bülent Ecevit in return of his acceptance to back up a motion of no confidence to overturn Demirel's cabinet. He was appointed Minister of Public Works in the Ecevit cabinet serving from January 5, 1978 to November 12, 1979.

After the military coup staged on September 12, 1980, Elçi was among the many arrested politicians. He was tried for his words "There are Kurds in Turkey, I am also a Kurd." he said during his term as minister. He was sentenced to two years three months in prison by the Ankara Martial Law Caourt. He was also tried by the Supreme Court (Turkish: Yüce Divan) for allegations of "hiring some Kurds", and was convicted to two years and four months in prison. He spent more than thirty months in custody. As a result of these punishments, some of his civil and political rights, such as to pursue his lawyer career or to return to politics, were suspended for a span of ten years.

In 1992, Elçi established with 98 Kurdish intellectuals the "Kurdish Rights and Freedom Foundation" (Turkish: Kürt Hak ve Özgürlükler Vakfı), and became its president of the board of trustees. After a long judicial struggle against the authorities, he succeeded in 1995 in getting the organization registered as the "Kurdish Culture and Research Foundation" (Turkish: Kürt Kültür ve Araştırma Vakfı). Through this action, an organization with the word "Kurdish" in its title became official first time in the history of Turkish Republic.

Elçi founded with a group of friends the "Kurdish Democtratic Platform" (Turkish: Kürt Demokratik Platformu) in 1994, and served for its spokesman. The organization was engaged in forming the "Democratic Mass Party" (Turkish: Demokratik Kitle Partisi, which was established on January 3, 1997. Right after its foundation, he was elected leader of the political party. The party was banned by the Constitutional Court of Turkey (Turkish: Anayasa Mahkemesi on February 26, 1999. Elçi became şeader of the "Participatoric Democracy Party" (Turkish: Katılımcı Demokrasi Partisi) (KADEP), which was established on December 19, 2006.

Şerafettin Elçi entered the parliament again as an independent deputy from Diyarbakır Province following the general elections held on June 12, 2011. In the beginning of the parliamentary term, he refused to take the oath of office, which is required for all newly elected parliament members to take in a parliamentary session before taking office. He stated that "It is not possible to take the oath of office. It is prepared in a racist, fascist concept and in a Turkish chauvinist mentality. It is never an oath of office we can accept, appropriate and abide by our political struggle. We don't want to provoke a crisis. We will repeat the text, however we can not abide".

In 1982, Şerafettin Elçi was put on trial before the Supreme Court (Turkish: Yüce Divan) for charges on bribery and abuse of power during his office term as government minister. He was acquitted on charges of bribery, but sentenced to two years four months imprisonment for abuse of power.

Family life and death

Şerafttin Elçi died on December 25, 2012 at a hospital in Ankara, where he was treated for cancer. After a memorial before the parliament building, his corpse was taken firstly to Diyarbakır, and then was buried in Cizre in a religious funeral attended by thousands.

Şerafettin Elçi was survived by his wife Fatma Elçi and seven children. His 35-year-old daughter Evin married to the successful football manager Mustafa Denizli (born 1949) on July 28, 2010.

Recognition

Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that the new airport in Şırnak, which is to be opened in July 2013, will be named in honor of Şerafettin Elçi.