Yakin Erturk

From 1986 to 2010, Erturk was professor at Middle East Technical University in Ankara in the Deparment of Sociology. She also served as director of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 1997-1999. Form 1999 to 2011, Erturk served as director of the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) at UN Headquarters in New York adn from 2003 to 2006, she served as UN special rapporteur on violence against women. In her capacity as special rapporteur, she undertook fact-finding missions in 17 countries at the invitation of the concerned governments. She was also a member of the independent international Commission of Inquiry on the June 2010 events in the Republic of Kyrgyzsgtan. In November 2009, she was elected to the European Council's Committee for the Prevention of Terror (CPT) for a term if four years.