He was born in 1965 in Batman, North Kurdistan. He graduated from Istanbul University Law College. He first worked as a journalist for YENİ ÜLKE magazine. He later served as an advisor to the mayor of Batman and then as a lawyer for the same municipality. From 2002 to 2005, he was the head of the İHD Batman Human Rights Branch. In the July 2007 elections, he was elected to the Turkish parliament on the DTP list, but was also the head of the party's constitutional commission. With the closure of the DTP and the establishment of the BDP, he became deputy leader of his party's faction in parliament.[1]