Birdal is an agricultural engineer by training, graduating from Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture, Soil Science Department.[1] He went on to do a master's degree in business at the Gazi University from where he graduated in 1973.[3] As a university student, he was involved in several agricultural associations.[3] His academic career, begun in 1979, was cut short by the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, and for a time he made a living running a grocery store.[4]
Political career and human rights
Birdal co-founded the Human Rights Association of Turkey in 1986, and became its Secretary-General. He was elected its chairman in 1992.[5] On 3 September 1996 he was detained accused of collaborating with the PKK for being part of a delegation who wanted to negotiate the release of Turkish soldiers captured by the PKK.[6] Eight captive soldiers were released. In December 1996 he was acquitted from the charges of collaborating with the PKK.[7] In 1997 Birdal and others were investigated or detained for supporting a peace initiative for the Kurdish Turkish conflict called the Musa Anter peace train.[8] In December the same year Birdal was acquitted from the charges relating to his support for the peace train.[9] On 12 May 1998, Birdal barely survived an assassination attempt, when two assailants fired 13 shots at him in the office of the association.[10] The Turkish Revenge Brigade claimed responsibility.[11] In 1999 he was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment under Article 312 (of which he served 14 months) for speeches made in 1995 and 1996.[10][12] In his speeches, he was in favor of a peaceful solution in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK.[13] He was released on medical reasons on 25 September 1999, but on 30 March 2000 a court ruled he must serve the rest of the sentence in prison.[14] In the year 1999 he was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.[15] In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the case breached Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Article 6.1 (right to a fair trial).[16]
^ abDetails can be found on the website of the Human Rights Agenda Association in a report called Defend Human Rights Defenders with a direct link to download the report as a word-file; accessed 26 August 2009