Ayhan Bilgen (born 28 January 1971, Sarıkamış, Kars Province)^[1] is a journalist, politician and former mayor of Kars from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

Bilgen studied political sciences at the Ankara University and sociology at the Hacettepe University, also in Ankara.^[1]

In 2006, Bilgen was engaged in the Turkish Human Rights association Mazlumder in which activity he opposed the new Anti-Terror bill by the Turkish Government as it limited the freedom of expression.^[2] In the same year he was elected as its chairman, and he kept the post for two years.^[3] In 2011 the newspaper he was the editor in chief of, Günlük, was closed by the Turkish authorities^[4] due to suspected support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).^[5] He was also a columnist for the newspapers Özgür Gündem and Evrensel.^[3]

He was elected to the Turkish parliament for Kars as a representative for the HDP in the general election of June 2015,^[6] and again the snap elections of November 2015.^[7] He supported the defense of Kobani against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in Kobani and was prosecuted for taking part in manifestations in October 2014^[8] during the Siege of Kobani. He was arrested in spring 2017 and released in September of the same year.^[8] During his parliamentary career he advocated for Human Rights, Kurdish rights and the protection of the environment.^[9] In the local elections of March 2019 he was elected the Mayor of Kars.^[10] In May 2020, after several Municipalities won by the HDP were put under the authority of state appointed trustees, Bilgen received the support from dozens of human rights organization.^[11] On 2 October 2020, he was formally arrested and deposed as Mayor of Kars^[12] and replaced by a government-appointed trustee, the governor of Kars Province, Eyüp Tepe.^[13][14] He announced his resignation from his party, HDP, on 13 December 2021.^[15] He founded a new political party in 2022.^[16]