18.06.2025 10:51
The name of the person who will replace the late former Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and DEM Party Member of Parliament Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who passed away due to a heart condition, has been finalized. Mithat Sancar, the DEM Party Member of Parliament from Mardin, has been designated as the new member of the delegation. Sancar will also be part of the delegation during the next visit to İmralı.
After the death of Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who served in the İmralı Committee due to a heart condition, it became a matter of curiosity who would be included in the committee.
As a result of the negotiations conducted by DEM Party officials, it was decided that Mardin Deputy and former co-chair of HDP, Mithat Sancar, would join the committee.
LAST VISIT WAS ON MAY 18
The İmralı committee initially consisted of DEM Party Van Deputy Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder. Later, Özgür Erol, one of the lawyers from the Asrın Law Office, was also included in the committee. The committee had its last meeting with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on May 18.
WHO IS MITHAT SANCAR?
Mithat Sancar is an academic, law professor, writer, and politician born in 1963 in the Nusaybin district of Mardin to an Arab-origin family. After graduating from Diyarbakır Teacher High School, he entered Ankara University Faculty of Law. He received his doctorate in 1995 with his thesis "Interpretation of Fundamental Rights" and became an associate professor in 1999 with his thesis "Rule of Law." In 2007, he became a professor and worked as a law professor at Ankara University. He is also one of the translators of Habermas's work "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere" into Turkish.
He has written columns for newspapers such as BirGün, Taraf, and Milliyet; published articles in journals on law, political science, and human rights. In 2013, he served as the representative of the Marmara Region in the "Wise People" Commission. He was elected as a deputy from Mardin for HDP in the June 7, 2015 elections and re-entered parliament in the November 2015 and 2018 elections. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from February 20, 2018, to February 23, 2020. On February 23, 2020, he was elected as the co-chair of HDP and held this position until August 27, 2023. Mithat Sancar is married to Türkan Sancar. He speaks Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, as well as German and English. He is a relative of Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Aziz Sancar.