Hişyar Özsoy

After earning his B.A. in Sociology from Boĝaziçi University, Hişyar Özsoy carried out graduate studies in cultural anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 2004 and 2010, respectively. Between 2011 and 2015, Mr Ozsoy worked as an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Michigan-Flint, teaching courses in political sociology, political anthropology, social theory as well as courses on Middle Eastern cultures, histories and politics.

Mr. Özsoy was elected to the Turkish parliament in June 2015 and served as an MP until May 2023, representing the provinces of Bingöl and Diyarbakir, successively. During his term, he was simultaneously the deputy chair of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the party’s speaker for foreign affairs. Mr. Özsoy also served as a member of various transnational parliamentary assemblies such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA).