Osman Baydemir

Osman Baydemir (born 1971 in Diyarbakır) is a Kurdish politician, lawyer and human rights activist in Turkey. He is the current mayor of his home town of Diyarbakır and member of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

Osman Baydemir graduated from the Law Faculty at Dicle University in Diyarbakır. In 1995 he became the chair of the Diyarbakır branch of the independent Human Rights Association. Between 1995 and 2002 he also was a board member and became vice-president of the association. In February 1999 he became one of the first lawyer who volunteered to defend Abdullah Öcalan. In 2001 he became a founding member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT or TİHV Türkiye İnsan Hakları Vakfı). At 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 2004, he was elected mayor of Diyarbakır.

In May 2005 he married Reyhan Yalçındağ, the deputy chair of the Human Rights Association in Turkey. On April 23, 2006 their son Mirzanyar was born.

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. The daily Radikal reported on July 11, 2006 that during the last two years a total of 129 investigations against him had been conducted.

Osman Baydemir has received numerous threats. In June 2001 Amnesty International issued an urgent action on his behalf. After the assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007 Osman Baydemir was among several people who received death threats.

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