CHP proposes Turkan Elci to run for parliament

The Republican People's Party (CHP) has offered Turkan Elci, the wife of murdered Diyarbakir Bar Association Chairman Tahir Elci, to run for a seat in the National Assembly, journalist Ismail Saymaz said on Twitter. He added that she is expected to accept the offer.

Tahir Elci, a human rights defender, was shot dead in the city on November 28, 2015, while speaking to journalists during a press conference and a shootout broke out between police and PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) militants.

The CHP's move is seen as a further rapprochement with the Kurds in order to gain their electoral support for party leader and joint opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who is running against President Tayyip Erdogan in elections scheduled for May 14.

Turkan Elci was born in the southeastern city of Turkey, Diyarbakır, and received all her education in the same city. She worked as a teacher for 15 years, then quit and pursued a law degree.

She still works as a freelance lawyer at the Diyarbakir Bar Association. She has written a novel entitled Blue Crow".

After her husbands assassination, she founded the Tahir Elci Human Rights Foundation.