Mayor of Metropolitan Diyarbakir (Turkey), Vice-Chair of the UCLG Committee on City Diplomacy, Peace-building and Human Rights

Osman Baydemir was born in Diyarbakir in 1971. He studied Law at Dicle University in Diyarbakir. After getting his degree in 1994, he worked as an attorney for one year. Between the years of 1995-2002, he worked with the Human Rights Association (HRA), successively as a member of the Executive Board of the Diyarbakir Branch, the Diyarbakir Branch Chair, and as Vice-President of the organization. He ran in the Parliamentary elections of 3 November 2002 for Diyarbakir with the People’s Democracy Party (DEHAP), where he won the majority of the popular vote but could not become a member of the parliament due the national election bar set for the political parties in Turkey. From May to December 2003, he attended English-language training courses in the United States. Besides his memberships in the Diyarbakir Bar and the Foundation for Social and Legal Studies of Turkey, Mr. Baydemir is a founding member of the Association for Solidarity with Immigrants and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey.

 

Mr. Baydemir is currently the Mayor of Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality and the President of the South East Anatolia Region Municipalities in Turkey. He is also the Co-President of the Middle East and West Asia Section of the UCLG, and the Vice President of the City Diplomacy Committee of the UCLG.