ELCI, SERAFETTIN

(1938- )

   Elci, a Turkish ethnic Kurd, was the minister of public works under Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in the late 1970s, when he became notorious in Turkey for stating: "I am a Kurd. There are Kurds in Turkey." For this outburst he was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. In 1997, Elci became the chair of the new Demokratik Kitle Partisi (DKP), or Democratic Mass Party, which was an attempt to establish a more moderate pro-Kurdish party than the banned Halkin Emek Partisi (HEP), or Peoples Labor Party, and Demokrasi Partisi (DEP), or Democracy Party, pro-Kurdish parties that Elci termed Marxist. Elci called for the recognition of the Kurdish identity and reorganization of the strongly centralized Turkish state, but without changing Turkey's borders. The DKP failed to make any significant impact and was itself banned in February 1999.