Kemal Burkay

Kemal Burkay (1937, Kızılkale, Mazgirt, Tunceli) is a Kurdish writer and politician.

Biography He attended his primary education in Tunceli and graduated from Ankara University, Law School in 1960. Following the coup d'état in 1971 most of the Kurds who were politically involved were detained. Burkay was imprisoned for one year, and after a new warrant for his arrest was issued, In 1980, just ahead of the coup d'état of the military, he left Turkey and settled in Sweden. In 1993, then the head of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan, he was interviewed for 18 days together with Abdullah Öcalan by the journalist Oral Çalışlar. The interview was then published in the newspaper Cumhuriyet and later in booklet form, which caused some controversy in Turkish politics as the publication of the booklet was banned. Burkay supported the ceasefire announced by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on 17 March 1993. He signed an agreement for future cooperation with Öcalan on the 19 March 1993. In 2011, he returned from his exile in Sweden after the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) improved the situation for the Kurdish movement,

Personal life He is married and father to 5 children.