Zeynep Oduncu
Turkish politician (born 1987)
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Zeynep Oduncu (born 1987, Gerçüs, Turkey) is a former Kurdish politician of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and the Democratic People's Party (HDP). Since June 2023, she is a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
Early life and education
Zeynep Oduncu was born 1 January 1989 in Gercüş, where she also attended high school.[1]
Political career
Since 2014, Zeynep Oduncu became a co-mayor of Gercüs, alongside Abdülkerim Kaya.[2] In September 2015 she was shortly detained together with several other politicians of the DBP politicians in Batman.[3] In November 2016, she was dismissed from the Municipal Council of Gerçüs by the Ministry of the Interior.[1] The same month[4] and the next[5] the police raided her house in Gerçüs.[4] In December 2016 Oduncu and her co-mayor Abdulkerim Kaya were detained and a trustee was appointed to the Gerçüs municipality.[6] In May 2022, she was shortly detained within a group of women politicians of the HDP.[7] In the electoral campaign towards the elections of 2023, she emphasized the importance of a solution to the Kurdish question, that Kurds do not want to be felt marginalized due to their identity.[8] On an other side, she also focused on health and environmental issues.[8] In the parliamentary elections of May 2023, she was elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey representing Batman for the YSP.[9]