Akın Birdal is perhaps Turkey’s most famous human rights campaigner. Co-founder of the groundbreaking Human Rights Association (IHD) in 1986, he served as its head from 1992 until he was shot by far-right nationalists at the association’s headquarters. Birdal survived the assassination attempt and went on to become a member of parliament from 2007 until 2011.

Birdal spoke to Ahval about his life and work.

Q: You worked as an agricultural engineer and chairman of farmers co-operative Köy-Koop for years before working as a human rights advocate, how did you make the switch?

A: Yes, I am an agricultural engineer by profession. I was working for the agrarian engineers' union for seven years. Later I resigned from the public sector and started working at Köy-Koop, a farmers' co-op.

After the 1980 military coup, I was arrested with eight of my co-workers from Köy-Koop. We were acquitted about a year after being jailed. Then I opened a grocery store with four of my friends, we called it The Dost (Friend) Farm, a tiny place about 20 square metres. A lot of things started there.

Quite a few intellectuals, politicians and writers came to the opening of our grocery store. The 1980 military coup had effectively turned Turkey into a torture camp; 650,000 people were tortured by the military regime. The relatives, parents, and spouses of these prisoners were trying to figure out what to do, and that's how the idea of a Human Rights Association (IHD) emerged. On July 17, 1986, we inaugurated the association with 98 members.

Q: You were elected president of IHD for three terms from 1992. During that time there was news about burned villages in the southeast of Turkey. You visited that region quite a few times during that period and witnessed many human rights violations. Are there any violations that have stuck with you all this time?

A: The Güçlükonak massacre is definitely one that I find hard to forget. Eleven villagers were killed on January 15, 1996. The villagers were shot in a van, and then they were burned. They said that the PKK was responsible for the attack.

We visited Güçlükonak on February 12. A week prior my wife told me she had some pain, she had some tests done, but couldn't get a diagnosis. Then I called a physician friend, we made an appointment for February 14. But we, as the IHD, had organised an event for that day and we had invited the Turkish intellectuals and journalists to join us. I couldn't be with my wife on that doctor's appointment. We went to Güçlükonak and reported our findings.

I called my wife's doctor afterwards. He said, ‘you need to be here as soon as you can’. My wife passed away two months later. Trying to report human rights abuses, advocates rarely have time for themselves, their problems, and their sufferings.

I lost my wife in April 1996 and in August 1996 we went to the mountains to return eight Turkish soldiers held captive by the PKK, only four months after my wife passed away.

