In the
general elections in 2002, he was the candidate of the
Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), but the party failed to reach the 10% election threshold. In 2003, Baydemir spent 6 months in the
United States, to improve his
English. In the
local elections in 2004, he was elected mayor of Diyarbakır.[1][4] As Mayor of Diyarbakır he became a member of the World Federation of United Cities for which he toured several capitals in the world. He also held speeches about the difficulties Kurds face in Turkey to the
European Parliament.[5][6] In the election campaign for the
local election of 2009, he had a prominent opposition of the candidate of the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its leader
Recep Tayyip Erdogan.[7] Baydemir won the elections and declared Diyarbakir as the DTP's castle.[8] Soon after the victory in the elections of 2009, he was sentenced to ten months imprisonment for calling the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) "guerrilla" which a Turkish court viewed as propaganda in favor of the PKK.[7] In the general elections of 2014 he was elected a Member of Parliament representing the BDP for
Sanliurfa.[9] As an MP, he was a well perceivable defender of the
Kurdish language and
minority in Turkey[10] and was banned for two sessions of the Turkish parliament for using the word
Kurdistan, which is forbidden to use in the Turkish parliament.[10][11] Osman Baydemir then filed an appeal before the
Constitutional Court which argued it had no authority of parliamentarian penalties[12] Following, Baydemir appealed to the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over his temporary expulsion, who in June 2023, condemned Turkey to pay Baydemir a penalty of almost 17'000 Euros.[12]
Prosecution
As a human rights activist and as a politician, Osman Baydemir has been subjected to persecution on various levels. According to a report of
Amnesty International of 12 February 2004 there were 200 court cases against him for his human rights activities.[13] The daily
Radikal reported on 11 July 2006 that during the last two years a total of 129 investigations against him had been conducted.[14] In June 2001 Amnesty International issued an
urgent action on his behalf.[15] After the
assassination of Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink in January 2007 Osman Baydemir was among several people who received death threats.[16]
Some or the court cases against Osman Baydemir include:
In May 2006 Osman Baydemir was charged with for providing an ambulance of the municipality for the transport of a corpse.[17] In September 2006 Osman Baydemir was acquitted.[18]
Osman Baydemir and 55 other mayors of the
Democratic Society Party (DTP) were indicted because in December 2005 they signed a petition to the Danish Prime Minister
Anders Fogh Rasmussen urging him not to close the Kurdish television station
Roj TV. They were charged with supporting the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The trial started in September 2006 and in April 2007 the prosecutor asked for sentences of 15 years' imprisonment for 52 mayors.[19]
He was prosecuted for violating a Turkish law prohibiting the use of letters not in the Turkish alphabet when he sent out a New Year's greeting in Kurdish which included the letter "W".[20] On 19 April 2007, Diyarbakır Peace Court No. 2 dropped the charges since the Ministry of Justice had not permitted that such a case be heard.[6]
He was charged with forbidden propaganda for having referred to the PKK as the "armed Kurdish opposition", but was acquitted in December 2009 as it was seen as freedom of thought by a court in Diyarbakır.[21]
In October 2017 Baydemir was sentenced to 1 year, 5 months and 15 days of imprisonment for insulting an "on-duty government employee" after he called three police officers "fascists and low-lives".[22] The verdict was confirmed in April 2018, following which he was expelled from parliament.[23]
On 10 December 2018
Ahval news agency reported he was sentenced to 18 month of prison for violating the law of demonstrations and meetings.[24]
On the 17 March 2021, the State Prosecutor to the
Court of CassationBekir Şahin filed a lawsuit in front of the
Constitutional Court demanding for Baydemir and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics together with a
closure of the HDP due to alleged organizational links with the PKK.[25][26]
Personal life
In May 2005, he married Reyhan Yalçındağ, the deputy chair of the TIHV. On 23 April 2006 their son Mirzanyar was born.[27] After his expulsion of the Turkish parliament he left Turkey and went into exile to
London,
United Kingdom.[28]
^Watts, Nicole F. (1 July 2011). Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey. University of Washington Press. p. 83.
ISBN978-0-295-80082-0.