Pinar Selek, Turkish sociologist and writer

Pinar Selek, Turkish sociologist and writer

Fri, 04/10/2013

Portrait

Doctor Honoris Causa of ENS de Lyon - October 4, 2013

Pınar Selek (born October 8, 1971) is a Turkish sociologist, feminist, and author.

She attended the French-language high school Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul and completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in the sociology department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in political science at the University of Strasbourg.

She is known for her work on the rights of vulnerable communities in Turkey, including women, the poor, street children, sexual minorities, and Kurdish communities. She is the author of several books published in Turkish, German, and French, and is one of the founding editors of Amargi, a Turkish feminist journal. She currently resides in France.

Pinar Selek has been prosecuted over a 15-year period in Turkey in connection to an explosion that occurred at the Spice Bazaar, Istanbul in 1998. Tried and acquitted of all charges on three occasions (in 2006, 2008, and 2011), her most recent acquittal was amended in November 2012 by the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 12, which sentenced her to life in prison on January 24, 2013. Pinar Selek's lawyers have appealed the verdict and announced plans to bring her case before the European Court of Human Rights.