Cemil Bayik

Cemil Bayik is the co-chair of the KCK Executive Council alongside Besê Hozat. He was elected by the General Assembly of the Kongra Gel (People`s Congress) which was held from June 30 to July 5, 2013. Before, Murat Karayilan had been KCK chairman. Cemil Bayik is one of the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that was established in 1978.

In 1955, he was born in the small village Aşağı Çakmak near the town of Keban (Elazığ province, North Kurdistan/Southeast Turkey). He attended primary school in his village. After passing the teaching college entrance examination in Akçadağ, Malatya, he went on to attend boarding school. Because of his successful performance as a student his teachers decided to send him to high school. After finishing his studies here, he applied for university. Cemil Bayik studied at the faculty of ‘Language, History and Geography’ of Ankara University. His major was ‘Turkish Language and Literature’.

After studying for three years he left university and joined the revolutionary struggle of Kurdistan professionally. He took over his first revolutionary duties in Antep working with Kemal Pir (a Turkish co-founder of the PKK and one of its leading figures; lost his life during the hunger strike in Diyarbakir prison). He attended the founding congress of the PKK in 1978 where he was elected as a member of the Central Committee and Executive Committee. In the following years, Cemil Bayik traveled to Lebanon and worked together with Palestinian movements. In 1983, he went to Rojava to carry out organizational activities. He has been a member of the PKK Central Committee and Executive Committee since 1978.