Barring die-hard fascists, Sırrı Süreyya Önder had few detractors and plenty of friends, as evidenced both in his lifetime and posthumous tributes. A large crowd streamed into Atatürk Culture Center in Istanbul for a commemoration ceremony on Sunday for the deputy parliamentary speaker and Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) lawmaker who passed away on Saturday. Funeral for Önder was similarly crowded, drawing people from across the diverse political and social spectrum of Türkiye.
Önder, who was embattled with several illnesses in the last days of his life, was hospitalized after cardiac arrest on April 15. After days in intensive care, he died of multiple organ failure, leaving behind a legacy of lifelong political activism and witticism.
At the commemoration ceremony, his daughter Ceren read an emotionally-charged letter she had penned to his father while he was in intensive care. She was “angry” that her father delayed a vital surgery for “working on peace,” but knew that he would be remembered well as a man of honor. Similarly, Önder’s brother Ali Fuat said Sırrı Süreyya had no earthly possessions but accumulated friends.
Media outlets reported Önder’s death as “farewell of the messenger of peace,” referring to his role in the DEM Party for the terror-free Türkiye initiative. Önder, along with another DEM lawmaker, Pervin Buldan, was part of a delegation relaying the messages of the jailed leader of the terrorist group PKK to the wider public as part of the initiative. The initiative, launched by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, bore fruit in February when Öcalan replied positively to the demand for a call to the PKK to dissolve, a first step to end years of violence. Bahçeli’s message of condolences for Önder was perhaps the embodiment of Önder's place in Turkish politics and social life. “We had different world views, but we were locked in on the same goal of having a future of peace. I believe the manifestation of terror-free Türkiye will be a spiritual gift for late Önder,” Bahçeli said in his statement, referring to Önder as “a brother,” a strong word by a politician who in the past trashed DEM Party for its links to PKK. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday said Önder worked hard for a terror-free Türkiye and reminded his “fruitful” talks with Önder and Buldan shortly before Önder’s hospitalization.
The 62-year-old Önder was born in Adıyaman, an eastern province. He was one of the five siblings in a “socialist” family, as he described them. His father, one of the founders of the Adıyaman branch of a socialist party, died while Önder was 8. What he pursued was a lifelong struggle to take care of his family. He worked odd jobs, from farm laborer to mechanic, as well as an apprentice at a photographer’s shop, which instilled in him a love for the arts in his early life. He was 16 years old when he made his foray into political activism by joining a protest against the notorious Maraş massacre. It led to his first arrest. After completing high school, he won the exam to join a political sciences program at Ankara University, but his education was cut short after the 1980 coup. His political work led to his imprisonment in the notorious Mamak prison in the capital, Ankara, where political prisoners were subject to torture. He was imprisoned for seven years, a period marked by hunger strikes, which instilled in him a passion for writing.
After his release, he worked several jobs, including as a truck driver. He was in his forties when his love for cinema was born after watching a film by legendary left-wing director Yılmaz Güney in 2003. He signed up for a cinema workshop and three years later, he had his first film as scriptwriter and director ready. "Beynelmilel" ("International"), which tells the story of people in Türkiye after the 1980 coup, garnered critical acclaim and national filmmaking awards. He followed this with low-key films he wrote and directed, and unforgettable cameos in major releases, primarily in the comedy genre. Indeed, his cameos were sometimes overshadowed by his witty and often funny exchanges with lawmakers in parliamentary sessions he presided over as deputy speaker.
Often hailed for his "Turkmen" identity in DEM and its predecessor Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), which taps on the support of ethnic Kurds, Önder served three tenures as lawmaker from HDP after debuting in parliamentary politics in 2011.
A large part of his political life was devoted to the resolution of the PKK problem. When Türkiye embarked on the “reconciliation process” in 2013 to restore the rights of the Kurdish community and thus, stop the PKK’s exploitation of underprivileged Kurds, Önder was under the spotlight. Between 2013 and 2015, he joined various initiatives to help the process and in a wide array of meetings to achieve “reconciliation.” His work later earned him a place in the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
His later life was not without troubles, however. In 2018, he was sentenced to 43 months for terrorism propaganda for a controversial speech he made in 2013, though he was released in 2019 after an appeals court ruled in his favor.
