Leyla Zana’s Return to ActivismĪfter her discharge in 2004, Leyla Zana returned to human rights activism, speaking up for the voiceless Kurds in Turkey. This 10 year jail stint lasted from 1994 to 2004, during which she was awarded several prizes and recognized as a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International. In the aftermath, Leyla Zana joined the Democracy Party, a Kurdish political party, which was quickly disbanded and Zana was again jailed, this time on trumped up connections to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), which she vehemently denied. While the Kurdish language had been recently legalized to be spoken in private, it was still illegal in public, and many Turkish parliamentarians were outraged. In what may be her most famous act, Leyla Zana swore into the Turkish parliament, reciting the necessary words in Turkish, and adding a Kurdish sentence at the end of the oath. In 1991, after she had been freed, Leyla Zana was the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish parliament. First Female Kurdish Politician in Turkey It was during this time that she found her political spirit and voice. Zana was not able understand Turkish when she was younger (and was forbidden by law to speak the Kurdish language), however, Leyla Zana learned Turkish with her children while held prisoner. Zana, a single mother of two children, was sentenced and held as a political prisoner for a 16 year jail term. In 1980, there was a military coup in Turkey, and Leyla Zana was taken prisoner for her affiliation with the government. She was born in 1961, and at 14, she was married to a man 20 years her senior - the mayor of Diyarbakir. Leyla Zana is known for facing extreme adversity in her life. Leyla Zana is a female Kurdish politician and an activist for Women’s and Kurdish rights in the Kurdish Region of Turkey.

Writings from Prison by Leyla Zana