İbrahim Bilgen


İbrahim Bilgen was a Turkish politician, electrical engineer and activist. He was born in Batman, Turkey and killed by the Israeli armed forces in the Gaza flotilla raid.

Early life and education

Bilgen was born in Batman, to a family that had migrated to Turkey from Mosul, Iraq. He graduated from Fırat University, where he studied electrical engineering, and was a member of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers of Turkey. He had been a resident of Siirt, a south-eastern city of Turkey, since 1980. He was married and had six children.

Political career

Bilgen was one of the founders of Virtue Party. After the Virtue Party was banned by the Constitutional Court of Turkey in 2001, he joined the newly formed Felicity Party. He was a candidate for Member of Turkish Parliament in 2007 for that party for Siirt Province, but he was not elected, the Felicity Party receiving 884 votes there. In 2009 Turkish local elections, he was a candidate for mayor of Siirt, but he was again not elected.
In a press interview during his 2009 campaign, he said: "I was born a Felicity man, I will die a Felicity man. Because Felicity is the only national party of Turkey. This party has neither come under the yoke of America, nor of any other country." Since then, he had been serving as a provincial inspector for the Felicity Party.

Business career

After working as an electrical engineer in various companies, İbrahim Bilgen founded an electrical engineering company called Bilgen Mühendislik, in 2004. In addition, he founded the first local television channel in Siirt, Selam TV.

Death

As a volunteer for IHH in Siirt, Bilgen joined the Gaza flotilla of May 2010 on board the MV Mavi Marmara, which set sail from Istanbul for the Gaza strip on May 23, 2010. He died on May 31, 2010, during the Gaza flotilla raid.
According to an autopsy Bilgen died from four gunshot wounds to temple, chest, hip and back.

Reactions to his death