Semra Güzel | |
---|---|
Member of the Grand National Assembly | |
In office 8 July 2018 – 23 December 2022 | |
Constituency | Diyarbakır ( 2018) |
Personal details | |
Born | 1984 Viransehir |
Political party | HDP |
Alma mater | Harran University |
Semra Güzel (born 1984, Viranşehir, Turkey) is a medical doctor, a politician and member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). She was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkish Parliament) until her dismissal in December 2022. [1]
She was born in Viransehir in the province of Sanliurfa where she attended primary and secondary education. [2] She graduated from the University of Harran where she studied medicine. [2] She then was employed at the Children's and Gynecological Hospital of Mardin in May 2009 and by November 2010 she became a medic in Nusaybin, Mardin province. [3] In 2012, she followed up on her studies at the Anesthetics and Reanimation department of the Gazi Yasargil Hospital in Diyarbakir. [3] Additionally, she served as Member of the Board and co-chair in the Medical Chamber of Diyarbakir. [2]
She was elected to the Turkish Parliament in the parliamentary elections of 2018, representing the HDP for Diyarbakir. [4] In parliament she was concerned on issues concerning health and the Kurdish language. She questioned the fact that Health Ministry's medical hotline didn't provide a service in the Kurdish language but in other languages [5] and also that the Health Cards issued in a hospital in Elazığ were in 17 languages but excluded the Kurdish language which is spoken by a considerable population in the province of Elazığ and also in Turkey. [6] Due to press reports which showed her together with a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Özgür Özel of the Republican People's Party (CHP) mentioned the party would approve the lifting of her parliamentary immunity. [7] She defended herself claiming that she had been engaged to Volkan Bora and as they met in 2014, it was during the peace process between the PKK and Turkey. [4] [3]
In September 2022, the Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced her arrest over terrorism related charges and accused her of having tried to escape to Greece with a false passport. [8] Imprisoned, she was dismissed from parliament, for not attending its sessions in December 2022. [9]
She was engaged to the PKK militant Volkan Bora, who was killed in a Turkish airstrike in Adiyaman. [3]