Meral Danış Beştaş, born in 1967 in Mazıdağı, Mardin, graduated from Dicle University Faculty of Law in 1990. She worked as an independent lawyer affiliated with the Diyarbakır Bar Association, where she also served in various capacities within the bar administration. She specialized in women's rights and human rights issues and represented clients in cases of human rights violations brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). She held positions within the Human Rights Association (İHD).
She notably served as the applicant's lawyer in Turkey's first conviction for domestic violence, known as the Opuz case.
Beştaş served as the Co-Vice Chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and was a member of its legal commission. She was elected as a Member of Parliament for Adana in the 25th and 26th terms, and for Siirt in the 27th term. She held the positions of Co-Spokesperson and Co-Chair of the Legal and Human Rights Commission within the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
She fulfilled the role of a member of the Constitutional Conciliation Commission established in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM). Additionally, she served as a member of the Constitution Committee, the Human Rights Examination Committee, and as the Deputy Chair of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights. She also served as the Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair of the HDP.
Danış-Beştaş is married and has two children.
DEM Party's İstanbul candidates are Meral Danış Beştaş and Murat Çepni
(PE)
