Selina Özuzun Doğan (born Selina Özuzun in 1977), aka Selina Doğan, is a Turkish politician of Armenian ethnicity who served as a member of the Turkish Parliament between 2015 and 2018. She became one of the first Armenian members of Turkey’s parliament in decades, alongside Markar Esayan (AKP) and Garo Paylan (HDP).[1][2]

Selina Özuzun Doğan
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office
7 June 2015 – 24 June 2018
ConstituencyIstanbul 2nd electoral district (June 2015)
Personal details
Born
Selina Özuzun

(1977-01-01) January 1, 1977 (age 47)
Istanbul, Turkey
Political partyRepublican People's Party (CHP)
SpouseErdal Doğan
ChildrenTwo
ParentYervant Özuzun (father)
EducationLaw
Alma materGalatasaray University
Istanbul Bilgi University
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionLawyer

Family life

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She was born in 1977 in Istanbul.[3] After completing her secondary education at the French high school Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul, she received a degree in law at Galatasaray University, and then took a master's degree from Istanbul Bilgi University. Furthermore, she began her professional career working in a law firm and serving as a lawyer for the minority foundations.[4]

She is married and has two children.[3]

Politician career

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Selina Özuzun Doğan was nominated as a candidate for the June 2015 general election by the Republican People's Party (CHP).[5][6] Upon agreeing with the proposal of minority groups to have a representative in the parliament, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of CHP, put her name on the first place of the party's candidate list for Istanbul 2nd Constituency.[3][4]

On June 7, 2015, she was elected into the parliament,[7] and became so the first Armenian members of the Grand National Assembly in decades alongside Garo Paylan (HDP) and Markar Esayan (AKP).[1][2] Apart from Hermine Kalustyan, who served six months in the Constituent Assembly of Turkey (Turkish: Kurucu Meclis) after her appointment by the military junta following the 1960 Turkish coup d'état, Özuzun Doğan is the only female Armenian member of the parliament in the history of Turkish politics.[7]

She was not re-nominated as a CHP candidate for the 2018 general election.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b Janbazian, Rupen (2015-06-15). "Garo Paylan, Selina Özuzun Doğan Speak about Being Armenian, Turkey Politics". ANI Armenian Research Center. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  2. ^ a b "Three Armenians Elected to Turkish Parliament". The Armenian Weekly. 2015-06-07. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  3. ^ a b c "Armenian woman becomes passing MP candidate in Turkey for first time". AM. 2015-04-07. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  4. ^ a b "Armenian candidate tops Turkey's main opposition list for elections". Hürriyet Daily News. 2015-04-07. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  5. ^ Yackley, Ayla Jean (2015-06-05). "Gay, Christian, Roma election candidates show Turkey's changing face". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  6. ^ Karataş, Zeynep (2015-04-08). "Minority groups take the reins in opposition candidate lists". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  7. ^ a b Kuyumciyan, Baruyr (2015-06-11). "Selina Doğan: Fight against hate speech is my priority". Agos. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  8. ^ Şevket Yaman (2018-05-23). "Vekilsiz 35 il sil baştan" (in Turkish). Milliyet.