Tunahan Kuzu


Tunahan Kuzu is a Turkish-born Dutch politician. He is a former member of the Labour Party. He has been an MP since 20 September 2012. On 13 November 2014 Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk left the Labour Party and formed the Group Kuzu/Öztürk, later renamed Denk. On 18 November 2014, he became Parliamentary group leader. In the 2017 Dutch general election, the party secured three seats in the House of Representatives.
Kuzu grew up in Maassluis and studied public administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He worked as a health care advisor for PricewaterhouseCoopers, and was also a member of the municipal council of Rotterdam from 2008 to 2012.
Kuzu attracted international attention in September 2016 when he refused to shake the hand of Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu before a meeting at the States General of the Netherlands. In a statement posted to Facebook Kuzu explained his action as a protest against human rights abuses committed against Palestinian civilians in the Palestinian territories.