Erkan Baş


Erkan Baş is a politician and academician who currently serves as an MP for İstanbul as a member of the Workers' Party of Turkey.

Early life and education

Erkan Baş was born on 14 July 1979 in Berlin, Germany in a Bosnian immigrant family coming from Yugoslavia. His family name was Jusovic in Yugoslavia. His father was a worker who went to Germany and his mother was a housewife who has been a textile worker for a while.
Erkan Baş completed his primary, secondary and high school education in Istanbul and graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of History of Science. He has completed his undergraduate studies in the History of Science Department affiliated to the Istanbul University Faculty of Literature. He worked as guest lecturer at Istanbul Technical University Department of Humanities and Social Sciences for a while. But he has removed from office by the school administration because of a struggle for the rights of the cafeteria workers in the university.

Early political career

Erkan Baş was a member of the Socialist Power Party at a young age, and also has been a co-founder of the Communist Party and still has assumed various responsibilities in Turkey. He was active in the Istanbul organization, the secretary of the province of Istanbul, and was included in the Bureau of the Organization and the Central Committee. The party carried out the press statement in Taksim Square in the May 1, 2008 actions. He also participated in student action against obligatory Hijab in Ankara.

General Presidency and Collective Leadership in TKP

At the TKP 9th Congress, Aydemir Güler has left his post as president, and instead, Erkan Baş was elected to the post of president. The TKP General Assembly entered into force with the congressional decision taken to facilitate party representation. The Party Central Committee abolished the "general presidency" office after about 6 months, as this move did not bring about the desired success. The TKP is ruled by the Party Central Committee as a collective leader.

Candidate of HDP

Baş became a parliamentary candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party for the 2018 Turkish general election.