[1] He attended his primary education in Tunceli and graduated from Ankara University, Law School in 1960.

[1] In 1974, Burkay was involved prominently in the establishment of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (TKPS) which published the magazine Özgürlük Yolu (Riya Azadi) between 1975 and 1979.

[5] In 1993, then the head of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan, he was interviewed for 18 days together with Abdullah Öcalan by the journalist Oral Çalışlar.

[6] Burkay supported the ceasefire announced by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on 17 March 1993.

[7] In 2011, he returned from his exile in Sweden after the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) improved the situation for the Kurdish movement[5] and in 2012 he was elected as the president of HAK-PAR, a party which advocates for the improvement of the situation of the Kurdish population in Turkey.