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Bekir Kaya (born 1977 in Ağrı) is a Kurdish politician of the Party DBP. He is married to Asli Kaya and father of 2 children.

Education and professional career

Kaya studied at the faculty of Law at Dicle University and graduated from it in the year 1999. In Van he began to work as a lawyer in the year 2001. He was elected deputy chair of the Van Bar Association.

Political career and prosecution

In 2009, Kaya was elected as the mayor of Van with 53,5% of the votes. In 2011 two earthquakes took place in the province of Van and the coordination of the distribution of the help to about 60`000 homeless people marked his first mayorship of Van. On the 7th June 2012 Kaya was detained and 4 days later arrested and included in what would become known the KCK-Trials over allegations of “being a member of a terrorist organization”. On the 16th June 2012 thousands of people took to the street protesting against his arrest in Van. In April 2013 he was released pending trial and reinstated as mayor of Van. He got re-elected in the Turkish local elections 2014 with 53.1%. On the 4th of January 2016 he got sentenced to 15 years imprisonment within KCK-Trials. He appealed the verdict and the Supreme Court of Appeals found Kaya not guilty in June 2017. But in November 2016 he was accused of neglecting fire, cleaning and transport services as protests in support of the resistance against the Islamic State in Kobane took place in Van and on the 16th November 2016 he was dismissed as Mayor of Van and the administration of the Van Municipality was turned over to a trustee appointed by the Interior Ministry after The next day, on the 17th November Kaya got detained and presented with several charges against him. One charge was that he has erected a PKK martyr`s memorial site in the Van cemetery, because several kurdish fighters who died in the fight against the Islamic State in Kobane and who were from the city of Van, were buried in the cemetery of Van. An other charge presented against him was the construction of a bridge beside an older bridge in bad shape to the Çatak district. By the prosecution, this was seen as a logistical support for the PKK. In September 2018 the previous verdict of the Supreme Court of Appeals in the KCK-Trial was overruled and Kaya was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months imprisonment. In October 2018 he got sentenced to an other 8 years and 3 months for the charges brought against him since November 2016. He is imprisoned in the Silivri Prison.

References

1. ^ "Ms. Rezan Zuğurli : Co-Mayor of Lice" (PDF). En.hdpeurope.com. p. 11. Retrieved 9 December 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
2. ^ "Bekir Kaya's story: How to jail a mayor". Ahval. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
3. "Arrested Van Mayor Relieved of Duties in Wake of KCK Probe". Bianet. 18 June 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
4. "15 Years of Imprisonment for Bekir Kaya". Bianet. 5 January 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
5. "Van Court sentenced Kurdish politicians to prison - NEW". ANF News. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
6. "High prison sentence for Mayor of Van, Bekir Kaya". ANF News. Retrieved 9 December 2018.

• 1977 births
• Kurdish people
• Kurdish people stubs
• Kurdish politicians
• Human rights abuses
• Human rights lawyers
• People expelled from public office
• Living people