Sanya Karakas

Sanya is of Kurdish origin from Turkey and graduated from Dicle University Law Faculty in Diyarbakir, Turkey. After completing her legal traineeship she worked as a lawyer in the field of criminal law and human rights law in Turkey from 2000 to 2006. Sanya has also been involved in human rights activism as a member of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, the Diyarbakir branch of Contemporary Lawyers Association and Human Rights Association. She undertook a legal internship with Kurdish human Rights Project and the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute. She completed an LLM in Human Rights at Birkbeck College, University of London in October 2007 and has been working at Kurdish Human Rights Project as a Legal Associate since September 2008. Sanya’s PhD will examine the question of impunity in Turkey in relation to state crimes.