Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu

Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu (born 1966; Batman) is a Turkish-Kurdish politician and lawyer who led the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from June 2021 on.[1][2]

Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu
Member of the Grand National Assembly
Assumed office
3 June 2023
Constituencyİstanbul (III) (2023)
Leader of the Free Cause Party
Assumed office
6 June 2021
Preceded byİshak Sağlam
In office
30 June 2013 – 21 May 2018
Preceded byMehmet Hüseyin Yılmaz
Succeeded byMehmet Yavuz
Personal details
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Batman, Turkey
Political partyFree Cause Party
EducationLawyer, politician
Alma materAnkara University, Law School

Biography

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Born in 1966 in the city of Batman in the eastern part of Turkey, he worked as a lawyer from 1990 to 2012 after finishing his education as a lawyer in Ankara. He co-founded the Free Cause Party in 2013 in an attempt to consolidate the conservative Kurdish vote.[3] Yapıcıoğlu had previously been a supporter of Kurdish Hezbollah and also stated that the cause of Hüda-Par was the continuation of that of Sheikh Said.[4]

Yapıcıoğlu is Anti-Darwinian and generally uses Islamic rhetoric in his speeches.[5][6] Moreover, he is against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, anti-America[7] and also criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party's policies and their failure in bringing peace to Kurdish areas.[8]

Electoral history

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Yapıcıoğlu ran unsuccessfully as an independent twice in 2015 and in 2018 in the district of Diyarbakır and received 3.4% and 4.3% of the vote share respectively.

Election District Votes[9] % Results
General elections, June 2015 Diyarbakır 27,537 3.4% Not elected
General elections, 2018 Diyarbakır 35,239 4.3% Not elected

References

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  1. ^ "Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu İstifa Etti" (in Turkish). Milliyet. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Kurdistan Islamic Union congratulates Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu for winning HÜDA PAR chairmanship". Dogru Haber. 5 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Hür Dava Partisi (Hüda par) nedir?". Hürriyet Daily News (in Turkish). Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  4. ^ Mehmet Kurt (2017). Kurdish Hizbullah in turkey – Islamism, violence and the State. London: PlutoPress. p. 49.
  5. ^ Mehmet Kurt (2017). Kurdish Hizbullah in turkey – Islamism, violence and the State. London: PlutoPress. p. 108.
  6. ^ "Our goal is to establish justice: Yapıcıoğlu" (in Turkish). İlke Haber Ajansı. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu Rojava ve 'O sözlere' ilişkin konuştu" (in Turkish). 27 October 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  8. ^ "HÜDA PAR lideri Yapıcıoğlu: Ak Parti sistemi muhafaza ediyor". Independent Türkçe (in Turkish). 19 October 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Sandık Sonuçları ve Tutanaklar". sonuc.ysk.gov.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 23 March 2020.