Şafak Pavey

Şafak is the first woman with disabilities who is a member of the parliament in Türkiye. She dreamed of being a painter when she was a child. “I guess I am the only one who dreamed of being an artist and ended up with being a politician” she says. As a result of a train accident in Zurich, where she was majoring in arts and movie, her left arm and left leg were replaced with prostheses. After the accident, she graduated from the International Relations department in London, and completed her master’s degree at London School of Economics. She carried out many assignments, including the management of UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for a long period of time.
Şafak, who also knows sign language, started interpretation in sign language as the first step she took as a member of the parliament from CHP İstanbul.
Şafak believes that there are financial and cultural barriers against the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Türkiye has signed. ‘It is a large barrier extending from ‘the perception of people with disabilities as sinners’ to ‘disruption of the public visual aesthetic’.’’
She is also criticizing the political parties at the assembly. ‘‘The sharp contrast between considering the disabled as dependent voters or considering them as independent individuals using their rights is drawing us away from the solution.’’
Şafak has now been elected for the second time as a member of the parliament, and she says that she is more hopeful that the assembly will reach an agreement within this term regarding the rights of the disabled.