Nurcan Baysal is a Kurdish human rights defender, journalist and writer.
She was born and grew up in Diyarbakır. She has worked for poverty and development programs at the United Nations Development Programme and various other non-governmental organizations. Following the ISIS attacks in 2014 she volunteered for the establishment of Yezidi camps in Northern Iraq and Turkey. Baysal is a founder of the Diyarbakır Institute for Political and Social Research (DISA), the Development Centre Association in Diyarbakır and the Platform to Save Women Kidnapped by ISIS. She is also one of the Middle East advisors of the Global Fund for Women and the Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism.
Among her books are three non-fiction works, O Gün (That Day), Ezidiler: 73. Ferman (Ezidis: The 73rd Decree), O Sesler (Those Voices-Diyarbakır: A City Under Siege), Geride Kalanlar (Those Left Beyin- Turkey’s Lanmine Issue), a book of short-stories, Yok Zamanı (The Time of Nothingness) and a research book, Kürdistan’da Sivil Toplum (Civil Society in Kurdistan).
Since 2013, Baysal has been featured as a columnist in various newspapers and media outlets. Her articles focus on human rights violations, poverty, refugees, humanitarian issues and the Kurdish question. She is a member of PEN Turkey and an honorary member of English PEN.
Baysal won the Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF) Prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life in 2010 and the “Turkey’s Changemakers” award in 2012 for her work in poverty alleviation. In 2017, she was awarded the “Brave Women Journalists Award” presented by the Italian Women Journalists Association. In 2018, she was named Global Laureate for Human Rights Defenders at Risk by Front Line Defenders. She also received the Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award in 2020.
