Mehmet Bekaroğlu
Mehmet Bekaroğlu is a Turkish human rights activist, a scientist, professor, a psychiatrist, a writer, and a politician of Laz origin. He was well known in the Turkish Parliament by his actions against tortures at jails. He took part in the Human Rights Commission in the parliament.
Bekaroğlu was elected to Parliament in the 1999 general election as a Member for Rize, but lost his seat in 2002 after the Virtue Party won less than the 10% parliamentary threshold. After the Virtue Party was closed down in 2001, he joined the Felicity Party and became its deputy leader. After resigning from the party, he formed an 'Islamic left' alliance with Ertuğrul Günay who resigned from the Republican People's Party in 2004. However, this new movement failed to take hold after Günay joined the Justice and Development Party. In 2010, he became the deputy leader of the People's Voice Party founded by Numan Kurtulmuş. When the HAS Party decided to merge with the AKP in 2012, Bekaroğlu decided not to take part in the merger and resigned from the party. He was the Felicity Party candidate for the Istanbul Metropolitan Mayoralty in the 2009 local elections and the Felicity Party candidate for the Rize Mayoralty in the 2014 local elections.
In September 2014, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu invited Bekaroğlu to become a member of his party as part of an attempt to expand the party's appeal to conservative voters. Bekaroğlu subsequently joined the CHP and became a member of the party council, becoming a deputy leader of the party. In the 2014 presidential election, he was suggested by CHP parliamentary group leader Muharrem İnce as a possible candidate.
