Sedat Bucak


Sedat Edip Bucak is a Kurdish politician and the leader of the Bucak tribe in Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, and a Turkish politician elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1991, 1995 and 1999. He survived the 1996 Susurluk car crash which led to the Susurluk scandal over links between police, politicians and the Turkish mafia. In 2004 he was convicted of involvement in the Susurluk criminal gang, overturning a previous acquittal.

Life

He was born in Siverek in 1960. His father is İsmail Hakkı.
He was elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1991, representing Şanlıurfa for the True Path Party.
In October 1993 he held a meeting with Democracy Party Siirt MP Zübeyir Aydar and Şırnak MP Selim Sadak. In this meeting, he declared that the state had done everything to destroy the fraternity between the Turkish and Kurdish nations. In December 1993 he organized the distribution of a leaflet entitled “Siverek Youth” in the district center of Siverek.
He was re-elected in the 1995 general election. He was the sole survivor of the November 1996 Susurluk car crash which led to the Susurluk scandal, due to the identities of the other three crash victims. The crashed Mercedes belonged to Bucak. Bucak's parliamentary immunity was revoked, but it was reinstated when he was re-elected in 1999, putting the Susurluk-related trial on hold. In the 1990s he was also in charge of a village guards unit of the Bucak tribe.
Bucak failed to win a seat in the 2002 general election, and as a result he lost his parliamentary immunity, and a case against him in relation to the Susurluk gang proceeded in December 2002. In 2004 he was convicted of involvement in the Susurluk criminal gang, overturning a previous acquittal. He was sentenced to one year in prison.