[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).

[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.

[16] On 25 September 2020, he was detained together with several prominent HDP politicians like former deputies Sırrı Sureyya Önder and Ayla Akat Ata due to the Kobani protests which were held in support of the Kurdish population in the Syrian town of Kobani in 2014, which was then besieged by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

He was found not guilty of terrorism related charges in the Özgür Gündem trial on the 15 October 2020.

[18] On the 17 March 2021 the Turkish state prosecutor before the Court of Cassation Bekir Şahin filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court demanding for him and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics.