Selahattin Güvenç, the founder and president of Akdeniz Göç-Der (forced to close under a decree law in 2016) and Çukurova Göç-Der (founded in 2019) has been arrested and detained multiple times. Güvenç passed away on February 14, 2022, while there were two ongoing lawsuits against him. The president of Çukurova Göç-Der (Migration Association) Selahattin Güvenç was born in Palu, Elazığ in 1956. He has been actively involved in student associations since middle school. He became a government employee and started working as a laboratory technician. He was also active in the solidarity movement for health sector employees. He was detained after the 1980 coup for being a member of an organization, and served two years in prison. He was acquitted and could regain his position as a government employee. In 1987, he was among the founders of Sağlık Mensupları Derneği (Health Workers Association) in Diyarbakır and was elected the founding president. In the following years, he served as the director of Diyarbakır Office of SES (Health and Social Work Workers’ Union) under KESK (Confederation of Public Workers' Unions). He also served as the executive board member of the headquarters of SES. He was arrested multiple times between the years 1980-2003. He, along with 13 of his friends, served 5 months in jail for a statement made as members of Diyarbakır Democracy Platform. He never received a sentence despite numerous cases brought against him in court. He moved to Mersin in 1993 and continued working for unions there. During those years, Mersin was a target city for internal migrants from Kurdish provinces; therefore, Güvenç gradually became interested in forced displacement. He retired in 2003 and founded Akdeniz Göç-Der in 2004. This organization conducted research on forced displacement, and joined studies conducted by universities. They drafted reports for the EU delegation, the UN, and the UNDP. Selahattin Güvenç presented their findings before the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) Solution Commission in 2013, where he said “we have concluded from our research conducted in 9 provinces that more than 3 million people have migrated. This is the Kurdish migration of the century” to underline the importance of the peace process to bring a closure to the terrorism triggered migration trauma experienced. 5 months later, on November 3, 2013, he was among the 24 journalists and human rights defenders to be arrested as a part of the “KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Operations” in Mersin. He was arrested on November 8 with the accusation that he was a KCK member. He was transferred to Adana Kürkçüler F-Type Prison where he was prisoned for 6 months. He has been released since then, but he was pending trial at Mersin 14th High Criminal Court. Güvenç was a prominent leader who formed the Migration Platform and Mersin Anti-Discrimination Platform and became a spokesperson for the both. He was also active in numerous institutions like Istanbul Policy Center, Türkiye Barış Meclisi (Peace Assembly of Turkey), Mersin City Council, Eastern Mediterranean Civil Society Platform, Amnesty International Turkey, and Civil Society Development Center (STGM). He was also among the representatives of human rights organizations who went to Suruç on September 25, 2014 to observe the migration taking place due to the war in Syria, human rights violations experienced and the state of asylum seekers. A criminal case was filed against Güvenç in 2014, justified on the grounds that the EU funded project Akdeniz Göç-Der implemented between the years 2011-2012 went against TCK (Turkish Criminal Code) Art. 115/2, 53 and 54. He was acquitted in absence of evidence for the alleged “violation of the Associations Law”. Following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, Akdeniz Göç-Der was forced to close with a decree law. Between the years 2016-2019, Güvenç assumed the role of founding the HDK (Peoples' Democratic Congress) Migration and Refugee Assembly as a member of the headquarters of the HDK. He is still on the board of executive directors of the HDK headquarters and the spokesperson of the Migration and Refugee Assembly. Güvenç was among the 11 people arrested on March 13, 2018 under the umbrella of the investigation led by Adana Karataş Public Prosecution Office. He was accused of the activities he led within the scope of the research project titled "Çadırda Yaşama Tutunmak" (Holding onto Life in Tents) in 2014 in Karataş, Adana. A lawsuit was filed against him on the grounds established by anonymous witness statements claiming he was a “member of an organization”. Since Akdeniz Göç-Der was forced to close with a decree law, he has channeled his efforts towards the founding of Çukurova Göç-Der in Mersin in November 2019 and was elected the founding president of the organization. Committed to rights-based advocacy, Selahattin Güvenç was serving as the president of Çukurova Göç-Der, the spokesperson for the HDK Migration and Refugee Assembly, the president of supervisory board of STGM, an alternate member of the board directors of Amnesty International Turkey and a member of Mersin City Council. Selahattin Güvenç passed away on February 14, 2022, due to a cerebral hemorrhage on February 12, 2022.
