Ayşe Acar Başaran
Ayşe Acar Başaran (born 2 October 1985) is a Kurdish lawyer and politician from Turkey. She belongs to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and served as a member of the Turkish parliament for Batman from 23 November 2015 to 14 May 2023.
She was born in Batman, the second of four children of Abdurrahman Acar and Sultani Acar. She studied law at Dokuz Eylül University and graduated in 2010. She worked as a lawyer for the Batman Bar Association for four years and is a member of the Free Women’s Congress.
Başaran started in politics with the HDP’s predecessor, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). She was appointed to the BDP’s women’s council in 2013–2014. She was elected as Batman’s HDP deputy in the June 2015 elections and re-elected in November 2015.
In October 2018, during the local elections period, many HDP members were arrested. Başaran said authorities beat her colleagues and used the law for political purposes. In March 2019, she said 713 party members had been arrested ahead of local elections.
In January 2020, after earthquakes, she criticized the government for prioritizing rents over people’s health and lives. In February 2020, she joined the new HDP Party Assembly and became chair of the HDP Women’s Council, serving as the party’s women’s spokesperson and criticizing the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.
On 17 March 2021, the state prosecutor asked for a five-year ban on political activity for Başaran and 686 other HDP politicians and for the party to be closed due to alleged links to PKK. In July 2021, there was a move in parliament to lift her parliamentary immunity.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:56 (CET).