Mizgin Irgat

She attended primary education in Tatvan, but was exiled to Izmir in 1993 where she completed her studies in a local high school.^[1] After having graduated from the law faculty of the Dicle University in Diyarbakir in 2003, she became a lawyer in Izmir.^[2] In December 2011 she was arrested and prosecuted in one of the so-called KCK-trials, the one against the lawyers of Abdullah Öcalan.^[3] She was detained in prison in Bakirköy, Istanbul.^[4] For the release of these lawyers, several Human Rights organizations such as the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH)^[5] the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)^[6] and lawyer unions ^[7][4] have taken action. She was released pending trial in June 2013.^[8]

She was the Democratic Society Party (DTP) candidate for the mayorship of Konak in Izmir in 2009^[1] but was not elected. In the General Elections of June 2015, Irgat was elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey representing the HDP for Bitlis.^[9] In the snap elections of November 2015, she was re-elected.^[10] As an MP she has taken up the defense of the rights of the deceased, condemning the destruction of graveyards by Turkish authorities.^[11]

While acting as an MP, she was detained and prosecuted.^[12] She has taken part in a meeting of HDP MPs in Izmir during which on actions of the PKK were referred to as peoples' struggle, which was enough evidence for a prosecution for terror related charges of several MPs.^[13][14] Irgat also shall have referred to Öcalan as a captive and a political entity.^[15] On the 17 March 2021, the state prosecutor Bekir Şahin demanded for her and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics together with a closure of the HDP due to alleged organizational cooperation with the PKK.^[16][17]