Pervin Buldan

Pervin Buldan was born in 1967 in Hakkari. After graduating from high school, she briefly worked as a public servant at the Hakkari Special Provincial Administration. Buldan moved to Istanbul shortly after marrying Savaş Buldan. Her spouse was kidnapped by unknown persons on June 2, 1994 and was murdered on June 4, 1994. A year after loss of her spouse, Buldan joined the Saturday Mothers; for four years and participated in the protests held in front of Galatasaray High School in Taksim. In the meantime, she took office in HADEP and served as Party Assembly member for two terms. Buldan was a candidate for parliamentary elections in 1999 from HADEP for the Istanbul 3. District; she could not become an MP due to her party not passing the 10% election threshold.

Buldan founded an association titled “Association for Cooperation and Solidarity with Victim Families”, which was later shut down. She later co-founded the “Association for Solidarity and Support for Relatives of Disappeared Persons (Yakay-Der)” in 2002, and served as the president of the association.

Buldan became a candidate for Turkey’s parliamentary elections in 2002 from DEHAP for the Istanbul 3. District; again, she could not become an MP due to her party not passing the election threshold. In 2005, she was listed amongst the 1000 women nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a women’s initiative in Switzerland.

For Turkey’s 2007 general elections, Buldan became part of the bloc titled Thousand Hope Candidates, which was supported by various parties. She won the election which she participated in as an independent candidate from Iğdır, and succeeded in being elected to the Parliament as Iğdır’s first female MP. After being elected, she joined the Democratic Society Party (DTP) group. Following DTP’s shut down by the Constitutional Court, she joined the successor Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

Buldan was elected as an MP from Iğdır once again in Turkey's 2011 general elections as an independent candidate of the Labor, Democracy and Freedom Bloc. She became the Group Deputy Chair of the Peace and Democracy Party on July 5, 2011. She was then elected as an MP from HDP for the Istanbul 3. District in the general elections of June 7, 2015, and also served as the Group Deputy Chair for that term. She was lastly elected as an MP from HDP for the Istanbul 3. District in the November 1, 2015 elections. Until her election as Co-Chair in HDP’s 3. Ordinary Congress on February 11, 2018, Buldan served as HDP’s first Parliament Deputy Chair.

 

Mithat Sancar

Mithat Sancar was born in Mardin / Nusaybin in 1963. He attended elementary and secondary school in Nusaybin and high school in Diyarbakır.

He graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1984. In the same year, he started to work as a research assistant at Dicle University Faculty of Law. Carrying out some of his master and doctorate studies at Wilhelm University (Münster / Germany), he received his MS and Ph.D. degrees at Ankara University.

He continued his career at Ankara University Faculty of Law since 1990. He became an associate professor in 1999 and professor in 2006 in the Department of General Public Law of the faculty. He also delivered lectures at Near East University Faculty of Law.

As a faculty member, the main subjects of his academic studies included state theory, human rights, constitutional law, judicial theory, conflict resolution and transitional justice. He has published various books and the articles in Turkish, German and English in these fields. He took part in many national and international conferences as a speaker and organizer.

He wrote for the newspapers Birgün, Taraf, Milliyet and Basnews and presented programs on various television channels, including IMC TV.

He has been elected a member of the Grand National Assembly for HDP in the last three general elections (June 2015, November 2015 and June 2018 elections).

He is fluent in German and also speaks English, Arabic and Kurdish.

He is married with two children.