Kemal Burkay
Kemal Burkay is a Kurd writer and politician. He started his education in Tunceli. He graduated from Ankara University, Law School in 1960. In 1965 he joined the Türkiye İşçi Partisi. Due to an article published in 1966, he was jailed in prison. In 1993, then the head of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan, he was interviewed for 18 days together with Abdullah Öcalan by the journalist Oral Çalışlar. The interview was then published in the Cumhuryet and later in booklet, which caused quite some controversies in Turkish politics as the publication of the booklet was banned. Burkay supported the ceasefire announced by the Kurdistan Workers' Party on 17 March 1993. He signed an agreement for future cooperation with Öcalan on the 19 March 1993. In 2012 he was elected as the president of HAK-PAR, a party which make efforts to grant rights of Kurd people in Turkey.
