Note: The following article was written during the lifetime of the prize winner. Muzzafer Saraç died on October 20, 2013.
Muzaffer Sarac was the former Chair of the Turkish Union YOL-IS (Turkish Street, Building, and Repair Workers Union) and the 1984 Vice President of the Social Democrat Party of Turkey.
He has fought for the civil rights, as well as the rights of unions in Turkey since the military coup in 1980. In many interviews, and public statements he criticized the military governments spread into political and social areas of life.
He also openly defended the labor union DISK and its components. He went on to denounce the inhumane conditions found in many Turkish prisons and called for the release of political prisoners, especially those members of the DISK.
Muzaffer Sarac won the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights in 1984 for his initiative for human rights in Turkey.