Ali Atalan
Ali Atalan (born 5 January 1968 in Midyat) is a Turkish-German politician of Kurdish Yazidi descent. Formerly a member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia with Die Linke, he is currently a member of the Turkish Parliament with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
Ali Atalan MP | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Grand National Assembly | |
| In office 7 June 2015 – November 2015 | |
| Constituency | Batman (June 2015) |
| Member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia | |
| In office 2010–2012 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 5, 1968 Midyat, Turkey |
| Citizenship | German, Turkish |
| Nationality | Kurdish |
| Political party | Die Linke (Germany) People's Democratic Party (HDP) |
Early life and education
Ali Atalan grew up in a Yazidi family and came to Germany in 1985. After completing his Abitur in 1997,[1] he studied political science and sociology at the Ruhr University Bochum, where he graduated in 2004 with a Diplom in social science.[1]
Political career
In Dülmen, he belonged to the social committee of the city council from 1990 until 1994.[2]
A member of the Greens from 1998 until 2001, he became a member of the Left Party in Germany in 2001. In 2004, he became a member of the city council in Münster. In the 2010 state elections, he was eighth on the state list of Die Linke North Rhine-Westphalia. As a result of the election, the party sent 11 members to parliament, and so from 2010 until 2012, he belonged to the 15th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.[1]
During the 2010 election period, Atalan's opponents made reference to his association with the "Anti-Capitalist Left" current, which has been investigated for suspicion of hostility against the German constitution, but whose political goals he supports. Atalan stated then that being against capitalism is not the same as being against the constitution, and that the German constitution is not inherently capitalist. Also during this time, his connection to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which was in open military conflict with the Turkish government from 1984 until 2013, was called into question. Atalan clarified that he was not a member of the PKK, but maintained that the ban on the PKK by the German government was counter-productive, and that Germany's position was used by Turkey to justify violence against the Kurds.[3]
On 7 April 2015, Atalan was nominated by the People's Democratic Party (HDP) to their electoral list for the upcoming parliamentary election to the Grand National Assembly. Along with fellow party member Feleknas Uca, he became the first ever Yazidi member of the Assembly.[4] In the general elections of November 2015, he was again a candidate, but was not elected.[5]
On 13 November 2015, the town of Nusaybin was placed under a curfew by the Turkish authorities, and Atalan and Gülser Yıldırım, an elected member of the Assembly, began a hunger strike in protest after two local civilians and ten PKK fighters had been killed by security forces.[6]
External links
References
- http://www.landtag.nrw.de/portal/WWW/Webmaster/GB_I/I.1/Abgeordnete/abgeordnetendetail.jsp?k=01539
- Ratsinfo der Stadt Dülmen
- http://www.wn.de/Muenster/2010/05/Nachrichten-Muenster-Ali-Atalan-Ich-bekenne-mich-dazu
- "Turkey's first Roma and Yazidi representatives to enter parliament". Hürriyet Daily News. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- "Batman Kasım 2015 Genel Seçimi Sonuçları". Yeni Safak. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- 2 HDP deputies go on hunger strike to end days-long Nusaybin curfew Archived 2015-11-20 at the Wayback Machine dated November 19, 2015, Today's Zaman, accessed 21 November 2015.