Pınar Selek

Pınar Selek, born on October eighth, nineteen seventy-one, is a prominent Turkish sociologist, feminist, and author renowned for her advocacy on behalf of marginalized communities in Turkey. Her work focuses on the rights of women, the impoverished, street children, sexual minorities, and Kurdish populations, often placing her at the center of political persecution.

Selek's literary contributions include several books published in Turkish, German, and French. She is also a founding editor of Amargi, a significant Turkish feminist journal. Currently residing in France, she has found academic refuge under the French PAUSE program, first in Strasbourg and later in Nice, where she secured a permanent assistant professor position in sociology at Université Côte d'Azur, affiliated with the Migrations and Society Research Unit.

Since nineteen ninety-eight, Selek has faced legal challenges in Turkey, stemming from an incident involving an explosion at the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. Despite multiple acquittals, her most recent verdict was overturned by the Supreme Court of Turkey in June twenty-two, twenty-two, resulting in a life sentence pending retrial. The retrial has been rescheduled multiple times, with the next date set for June twenty-eight, twenty-four.

In twenty-four, she was appointed as an ambassador for Prison Insider, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about global detention conditions, further solidifying her commitment to human rights.