Sırrı Süreyya Önder

Sırrı Süreyya Önder MP
File:Sırrı Süreyya Önder.jpg
Member of the Grand National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 June 2011
Constituency	İstanbul (II) (2011) Ankara (I) (June 2015, Nov 2015)
Personal details
Born	(1962-07-07) 7 July 1962 Adıyaman, Turkey
Political party	People's Democratic Party (2014-present) Peace and Democracy Party (2011-14)
Occupation	Actor, film director, screenwriter, politician

Sırrı Süreyya Önder (born 7 July 1962) is a Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, columnist and politician with Turkmen ancestry. Elected into the parliament as an independent but backed by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) following the Turkish general election, 2011, he later joined the BDP. He competed in the 2014 municipal elections as the candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the sister party of the BDP, in the race for the mayorship of Istanbul. He approximately got %9 of the vote. He currently acts as a MP of HDP from Istanbul. In the general elections on June 7, 2015 he was elected as MP for the 1. voting district of Ankara Province.

Early years

Önder was born on 7 July 1962 in the Southeastern Anatolian city of Adıyaman to a barber father, who was founder and leader of the provincial office of Behice Boran's Workers Party of Turkey (TİP) in the 1960s. His father died from cirrhosis as Önder was eight years old. His mother moved with him and his four younger siblings to the maternal grandfather's house. To support his family, he began working as an apprentice in a photograph shop that continued until he was in the tenth grade of high school.

At the age of sixteen, Önder began working for the National Malaria Eradication Program, at which he could earn more money than in the photograph shop. There, he learned the trade union movement before he was fired because of his union activities. Following a brief time in his own tire repair shop, he continued to make a living by taking photographs for identity documents in the rural area.

In 1980, Önder enrolled in the university in Ankara to study political science. During the second term, he joined a political student movement to protest the military junta, which had overturned the government on September 12, 1980. He was arrested and sentenced to twelve years in prison on charges of membership in an illegal organization. He was incarcenated in overcrowded wards in prisons like Mamak, Ulucanlar and Haymana.

Career

Önder's 2006 film The International was awarded the Best Picture Prize at the 2007 International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival, and was entered into the 29th Moscow International Film Festival.

In 2010, Önder began a columnist career at the newspaper BirGün. He then continued to write at the daily Radikal. Backed by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in the 2011 elections, he ran for an independent seat in the parliament. Elected as a deputy from Istanbul, he joined then the BDP. After entering into the parliament, he quit his post at Radikal. Currently, he writes for Özgür Gündem.

Önder was involved in the 2013 Taksim Gezi Park protests and was reportedly hospitalised after being hit by a tear gas cartridge.

Filmography

2006

• The International, director, screenwriter, film score and actor - Best Picture Award 2007 International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival
• Sis ve Gece, actor

2008

• O... Çocukları, screenwriter
• Kalpsiz Adam, advisor to screenwriter

2009

• Ada: Zombilerin Düğünü, (guest actor)
• Ejder Kapanı, actor

2010

• Mar, guest actor

2011

• Yeraltı, actor

2012

• F Tipi film, director

2013

• Düğün Dernek, actor

External links

• Sirri Sureyya Onder at the Internet Movie Database

1. REDIRECT Template:Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)