Nurcan Baysal

Nurcan Baysal
Nationality Turkish
Occupation Artist, journalist
Known for Painting of the destruction of Nusaybin

Nurcan Baysal is a Kurdish journalist from Turkey. In 2018 she was named Global Laureate for Human Rights Defenders at Risk by Front Line Defenders, an Irish human rights NGO.

Life

Accepting her award from Front Line Defenders, Baysal described a formative moment in her childhood when she witnessed the Turkish military attack a funeral procession for the Kurdish rights activist Vedat Aydin who was tortured and killed in 1991.[1] The award was presented in May 2018 at Dublin Castle by UN deputy high commissioner for human rights Kate Gilmore.[2]

In January 2018, Baysal was detained by Turkish police at her house in Diyarbakir, South East Turkey. Human Rights Watch stated that she was detained in connection with her Tweets criticising Turkey's military operation in Afrin, Syria.[3] She told The Journal that kalashnikov-wielding security forces had stormed her house one evening, saying that “At first we thought it was an earthquake. They were trying to knock down our door.”[4] In February she was found guilty in a separate case of 'demeaning the Turkish security forces' in an article she wrote. Although she was sentenced to ten months in prison, 'she was released on the condition that she not repeat the offence within five years', according to Front Line Defenders.[5]

Baysal worked for the UN Development Programme in Turkey and has published four books in Turkish with İletişim Publishers. She is also a journalist for Turkish news website Ahval.[6] She has also been published by OpenDemocracy[7],

References

  1. ↑ "Kurdish journalist Nurcan Baysal wins international rights prize | Ahval". Ahval. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  2. ↑ "Denis O'Brien hails human rights defenders in speech to charity". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  3. ↑ "Activist Detained in Turkey for Tweets". Human Rights Watch. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  4. ↑ Brennan, Cianan. "'We thought it was an earthquake; it was men with kalashnikovs at the door' - the woman documenting human rights abuses in Turkey". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  5. ↑ "Profile: Nurcan Baysal". Frontline Defenders. 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Nurcan Baysal | Ahval". Ahval. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  7. ↑ "Nurcan Baysal". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
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