Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı (born in Siverek, 1963) is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (#HDP# ) and former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Mayor of Diyarbakir.

Biography

When Mızraklı was three years old his family moved to Eskişehir due to his father's work. He attended the primary and secondary school in Eskişehir. After completing his studies at the faculty of medicine he began working as a doctor in Diyarbakir in 1991. He worked as a surgeon and was involved in the Medical Chamber. He was also active in te Democratic Society Congress (DTK) since 2000. In the General Elections of the 24-06- 2018 he was elected to represent Diyarbakir as an MP. In the Municipal election of the 31-03-2019 he was elected as Mayor of Diyarbakir with 62.93% of the votes. He became well known amongst the opposition as he made public a luxury suite in Diyarbakir Municipality which was built before he took office. Due to political pressure, he was dismissed as the Mayor of Diyarbakir on 19 -08-2019.The population of Diyarbakir protested for weeks against this decision.

Legal prosecution

Mızraklı was detained on the 21 -10-2019 and charged with being a member of terror organization. Later that month, like other leaders of the HDP he was transferred far away of his hometown from the prison in Diyarbakir in Southeast Anatolia to a prison facility in Kayseri in central Anatolia. He is one of 23 elected mayors currently in detention in Turkey who are charged with connections to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (#PKK)# The prosecution alleged that Mizrakli had attended funerals of PKK members.Human Rights Watch stated that the evidence in an indictment against him does not support the charge that he was involved with terrorism or committed crimes. On the 9 March 2020 he was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months imprisonment for membership in a terror organization.[1]