Nebahat Akkoç

Nebahat Akkoç (born 1955) is a Turkish human rights activist and former trade unionist. A teacher by profession, she experienced persecution following the 1980 coup d'état and its subsequent ban on trade unions. Following the murder of her husband in 1993, Akkoç became a human rights activist, for which she was recognised with the Anne Klein Women's Award in 2015.

Early life and education Akkoç was born in 1955 in Karlıova, a municipality of Bingöl Province. Born into a Kurdish family, she is of Armenian and Alevi descent. Akkoç attended school in the Hazro and Silvan districts of Diyarbakır. During the 1970s, Akkoç trained as a teacher at the Eskişehir Institute of Education, and subsequently worked as a teacher in Mardin until the 1990s.

Akkoç was married to Zübeyir Akkoç, a teacher, until his death in 1993. They had two children together.

In 1997, Akkoç founded the KAMER Foundation, a Turkish-Kurdish non-governmental organisation that initially supported Kurdish victims and survivors of domestic abuse. The name KAMER stemmed from two Turkish words, kadın and merkezi, meaning "women's centre". Following the calming in relations between the Turkish govertnment and Kurdish groups, KAMER expanded beyond Kurdish areas, offering services in 23 of Turkey's provinces, including Diyarbakır Province, Mardin Province, Batman Province and Bingöl Province, and 44 of its cities. KAMER now offers psychological and legal counselling for victims of domestic abuse; access to shelters and resources for economic self-sufficiency; as well as support for perpetrators of abuse. Akkoç had previously been one of the co-founders of the Mor Çatı Foundation, established in 1990 to provide shelters to victims of domestic abuse.

Recognition In 2004, Akkoç received the Ginetta Sagan Fund of 20, 000 USD, in recognition of her work to protect the "lives and liberty" of women.

In 2015, Akkoç received the Anne Klein Women's Award from the Heinrich Böll Foundation, in recognition for her work against state violence and domestic abuse. In 2019, Akkoç received the International Hrant Dink Award, alongside Indian activist Agnes Kharshiing. In 2021, Akkoç was named as one of the laureates of the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law from the German and French governments.

Additionally, TIME magazine named Akkoç as one of its "heroes of the modern age".