Fehmi Demir was born on January 2, 1957, and died on October 25, 2015 in a traffic collision.
Fehmi was a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin who served as the leader of the Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR) from October 2014 until his death a year later in October 2015.
He advocated a federalist agenda, in favour of splitting Turkey into several federal states in order to give the Kurdish dominated region’s more political autonomy.
On 25 October 2015, just six days before the November 2015 general election, Fehmi was killed in a traffic accident while travelling on a motorway through Tarsus in Mersin Province.
His party had fielded candidates in 78 electoral districts for the election, while Fehmi had been the HAK-PAR’s first-preference candidate in Diyarbakır.
Fehmi was born on 2 January 1957 in the Turkish town of Yeniceoba (İncov) in the district of Cihanbeyli, Konya Province.
He was the eldest of 6 children. He was educated at the Yeniceoba town school and completed his middle and high school education in Cihanbeyli.
Fehmi graduated from the Eskişehir Commercial Sciences Academy, Faculty of Economics, which would later become the Anadolu University.
During his student years, he was active in pro-Kurdish university and political societies, also taking up roles in the Eskişehir Halkevleri.
Fehmi passed away at age 58 in October 2015.