Selim Çürükkaya
Encyclopedia
Mehmet Selim Çürükkaya also known as Tilki, is a founding member and later dissident from the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) and a Kurdish writer and International PEN
member.
Çürükkaya lives in Germany and has published eight books, one translated into German and English.
and Murat Genç
. He attended primary school in the village and learned Turkish. After completing primary school, the village was renamed to İkizgöl. After primary school he went to live with an uncle in Ceyhan (in the Province of Adana), in order to visit the middle school. He stopped going to school and worked in a coal merchant and cafes. In the early 1970s he moved back to Bingol to finish high school. The village was temporarily destroyed by a landslide and elsewhere, 17 km from Bingöl, under the name Yeniköy been rebuilt.
In 1974 Çürükkaya joined the PKK and in the following year, while a student at Tunceli Teachers School, travelled around southeast Turkey recruiting members. He was sentenced in May 1980 by a military court in Diyarbakır
to a long prison sentence. In his books he tells of torture and resistance. According to Daniel, he participated in several hunger strikes. His wife Aysel was placed in the same prison. In April 1991 he was released. He left Turkey and went to Mahsum-Korkmaz Academy in the Lebanese Bekaa Valley. He held various functions in the PKK, including as chief financial executive. Çürükkaya fell out with Abdullah Öcalan
because of his leadership style and the persecution and murder of intra-party critics. Çürükkaya was arrested on the orders of Ocalan and sentenced to death. He escaped from prison, came to Germany and had to hide from the organization. In Germany, Günter Wallraff sat for him and visited Öcalan in Syrian exile, to effect a pardon Çürükkayas.
Çürükkaya is married to fellow activist Aysel Çürükkaya, with whom he has a daughter.
Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party , commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK or KONGRA-GEL , is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights...
(PKK) and a Kurdish writer and International PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
member.
Çürükkaya lives in Germany and has published eight books, one translated into German and English.
Biography
Selim Çürükkaya in 1954 in what was then Tanzut, born to a village in the province of Bingöl in the river valley between the towns of PaluPalu
Palu is a chartered city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, located 1,650 km northeast of Jakarta, at . It is the capital of the province of Central Sulawesi. The city sits on the mouth of Palu River, at the head of a long, narrow bay. Because of its sheltered position between mountain...
and Murat Genç
Genç
Genç , is a town and district of Bingöl Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is Abdurrahim Ariç .-Etymology:...
. He attended primary school in the village and learned Turkish. After completing primary school, the village was renamed to İkizgöl. After primary school he went to live with an uncle in Ceyhan (in the Province of Adana), in order to visit the middle school. He stopped going to school and worked in a coal merchant and cafes. In the early 1970s he moved back to Bingol to finish high school. The village was temporarily destroyed by a landslide and elsewhere, 17 km from Bingöl, under the name Yeniköy been rebuilt.
In 1974 Çürükkaya joined the PKK and in the following year, while a student at Tunceli Teachers School, travelled around southeast Turkey recruiting members. He was sentenced in May 1980 by a military court in Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
to a long prison sentence. In his books he tells of torture and resistance. According to Daniel, he participated in several hunger strikes. His wife Aysel was placed in the same prison. In April 1991 he was released. He left Turkey and went to Mahsum-Korkmaz Academy in the Lebanese Bekaa Valley. He held various functions in the PKK, including as chief financial executive. Çürükkaya fell out with Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
because of his leadership style and the persecution and murder of intra-party critics. Çürükkaya was arrested on the orders of Ocalan and sentenced to death. He escaped from prison, came to Germany and had to hide from the organization. In Germany, Günter Wallraff sat for him and visited Öcalan in Syrian exile, to effect a pardon Çürükkayas.
Çürükkaya is married to fellow activist Aysel Çürükkaya, with whom he has a daughter.