Leyla Zana

Leyla Zana gives a speech during the Newroz celebrations.
( Diyarbakır on March 21, 2007)

Leyla Zana (born May 3, 1961 in Silvan , Diyarbakır , Turkey ) is a politician , human rights activist and member of the Halkların Demokratik Partisi (HDP) in the Turkish parliament .

Zana was charged with supporting a terrorist organization and spent many years in prison. In the parliamentary elections on June 12, 2011 , Leyla Zana was elected as an independent and non-party member of the Turkish National Assembly for the 24th legislative period. For the next election in 2015 , Zana successfully ran for Ağrı Province .

Life

Family and education

Leyla Zana comes from a Kurdish family with four sisters and one brother. Her father was an employee.

Zana was married to the mayor of Diyarbakır , Mehdi Zana , 20 years her senior at the age of 14 . Her husband campaigned for the rights of the Kurds and was imprisoned in 1980. At that time, Leyla Zana already had a son and was pregnant. As a result, Leyla Zana learned to read, write and the Turkish language because at that time conversation in Kurdish was forbidden in prison. She founded a self-help group for the wives of imprisoned men and became a journalist.

Political activity and related law enforcement

In the 1991 parliamentary elections , Leyla Zana was elected to the Turkish parliament with Hatip Dicle , Orhan Doğan and Selim Sadak on the SHP electoral list, among others .

Oath of office in 1991 and subsequent arrest

On her oath of office on November 6, 1991, Leyla Zana wore a ribbon in the traditional Kurdish colors of yellow, green and red around her head. She took the oath of loyalty in Turkish, as required by the law, but then added in Kurdish: "Long live the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood." Her party was banned, and on March 2, 1994, parliamentary immunity became Leyla Zanas and lifted by six of her group colleagues. Parliament welcomed the decision with a standing ovation.

Because of their behavior at the swearing-in and later speeches and writings in defense of Kurdish rights, the prosecutor demanded the death penalty . On December 8, 1994, the court sentenced Leyla Zana and her colleagues to 15 years in prison for supporting a terrorist organization. On October 9, 1998, her sentence was increased by two years.

EU response to the conviction of Leyla Zana

In June 2002 the European Court of Human Rights condemned the actions of the Turkish authorities and awarded Leyla a compensation of 50,000 euros. In the course of Turkey's accession negotiations with the European Union , Turkey, as a candidate country, relented in spring 2003 and resumed the procedure. The hearing was delayed.

On 21 April 2004 confirming State Security Court in Ankara , the judgments against Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak, making it initially looked as if they would have the rest of their 15-year prison sentence to settle. The verdict sparked violent protests, including from the European Union. The then Commissioner for Enlargement Günter Verheugen stated in view of Turkey's wish to join the EU that the judgment was not in accordance with the Copenhagen criteria .

Release from prison on June 9, 2004

On June 9, 2004, the Supreme Court ordered the provisional release of Leyla Zana and the three convicts with her, although the further proceedings were not to be decided until July 8, 2004. After leaving the prison, Leyla Zana was celebrated by a large crowd and the release was generally welcomed, including by the Turkish government.

At a new hearing, the 11th Large Criminal Chamber in Ankara came back to a guilty verdict in March 2007, but reduced the sentence to 7.5 years.

Founding of the DTP party in 2005

Since her release, she has sought to found a new party, the DTP , which was founded in October 2005.

Renewed indictment and re-election as MP

In April 2007, she was sentenced to 2 prison terms for terrorist propaganda.

On December 4, 2008, she was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for membership in a terrorist organization under Article 314 II of the Turkish Penal Code, because in a press release she did not condemn the PKK as a terrorist organization and named Öcalan as the leader of the Kurdish people.

In the 2011 parliamentary elections, Leyla Zana ran as an independent candidate for Diyarbakır Province and won a direct mandate.

Renewed re-election as MP in 2015 and withdrawal of the MP's mandate

In the two parliamentary elections in November 2015, she was elected to parliament for the HDP party in the province of Ağrı . In November 2015, when she was sworn in, she sparked another discussion when she changed the oath formula and swore on the "people of Turkey" instead of the "Turkish people". After she had already received no voting rights because of the amended oath, her mandate was withdrawn in January 2018. The reason given was her permanent absence from parliament.

More law enforcement and trials

In 1988, Leyla Zana was arrested for seven days for protesting in front of the Diyarbakir prison.

According to the daily Hürriyet , Zana said that she sees the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan as one of the leaders of the Kurdish people

On April 10, 2008, the Diyarbakir Court sentenced her to two years in prison for a speech she gave at Newroz Festival 2007 for "propaganda for a banned party".

In December 2008, Leyla Zana was sentenced to 10 years in prison for making 9 speeches and being a member of a terrorist organization.

In April 2010, Leyla Zana was sentenced to three years in prison for speeches she made at political congresses and rallies.

On May 24, 2012, Leyla Zana was sentenced to ten years in prison by a court in Diyarbakir . In a retrial, the court upheld a decision from 2008. The MP for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) was charged again with being a member of a terrorist organization and in various speeches in 2007 and 2008 making propaganda for the PKK to have spread. The court in Diyarbakir had already sentenced Zana in 2008 to a ten-year prison term for these speeches. However, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Ankara overturned the judgment last year and ordered a renegotiation. The court in Diyarbakir has now upheld his previous judgment. The court also revoked Zana's right to vote as well as her right to political office. As a member of the Turkish parliament, Leyla Zana enjoys immunity until the end of her term of office .

Positions

During an election rally, Zana gave a speech in which she named Abdullah Öcalan one of the three leaders of the Kurds . The arrest of Öcalan was a political earthquake in the soul of the Kurds . In a speech, Zana demanded that Turkey should be divided into federal states, including a state called Kurdistan.

During an election rally in Bingöl on July 20, 2007, Zana stated:

“People say to me that I am a Diyarbakir, I am not a Diyarbakir, I am Kurdistan . They say that the east is here, the southeast, this is not the east, the southeast is Kurdistan. We are called separatists. But actually this country also belongs to us. "

Awards

• 1994: Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize
• 1995: Sakharov Prize
• 1995: Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights
• 1995: Aachen Peace Prize
• 2009: Highest award from the Turkish human rights organization İHD
• Honorary Citizen of Geneva
• Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 and 1998

literature

• Faruk Bildirici: Yemin gecesi (A biography of Leyla Zana) ISBN 978-975-991-637-4

Web links

• Data on Leyla Zana on the Turkish Parliament website
• Amnesty International USA
• EU reactions ( Memento of July 21, 2004 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jan Keetman: 10 years imprisonment for Geneva honorary citizen Leyla Zana | St.Galler Tagblatt . In: St.Galler Tagblatt . ( tagblatt.ch [accessed on July 15, 2018]).
2. ↑ Leyla Zana Remains in Custody , the daily newspaper , accessed on July 20, 2007
3. ↑ https://books.google.de/books?id=BD7imPDFto0C&printsec=frontcover&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=false
4. ^ Hürriyet , March 9, 2007.
5. ^ Former Kurdish MPs set up Democratic Society Party (DTP). Retrieved July 15, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2008 Vol.1 . Government Printing Office, ISBN 978-0-16-087515-1 ( google.ch [accessed October 21, 2018]).
7. ↑ Leyla Zana 10 yıl hapis cezası , Hürriyet , accessed December 4, 2008.
8. ↑ Stern-Online April 21, 2011: Turkish electoral commission now allows Kurdish candidates ( memento from June 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ Rheinische Post June 13, 2011: Electoral success for Kurdish politician in Turkey: Leyla Zana returns to parliament
10. ↑ http://www.dw.com/de/kurdin-l%C3%B6st-kontroverse-im-t%C3%BCrkischen-parlament-aus/a-18856556
11. ↑ Speaker declares Zana's oath null and void due to 'Turkish nation' rewording. Accessed July 15, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Turkish Parliament revoked Kurdish MP Zana Mandate Der Standard , January 12, 2018, accessed on January 18, 2018.
13. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Kurdish MP Leyla Zana loses parliamentary seat in Turkey | DW | 01/12/2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018 . 
14. ↑ EU: Leyla Zana Background Note. SS 1 , accessed on July 15, 2018 (English). 
15. ↑ Zana: Öcalan örgüt lideri değil , Hürriyet Online , accessed on September 21, 2007
16. ^ Leyla Zana sentenced to two years' imprisonment - Human Rights House Foundation . In: Human Rights House Foundation . April 12, 2008 ( humanrightshouse.org [accessed July 15, 2018]).
17. ↑ Reuters Editorial: Turkish court convicts Kurdish politician for speech . In: US ( reuters.com [accessed July 15, 2018]).
18. ↑ NZZ May 24, 2012: Leyla Zana sentenced to prison again
19. ↑ Stern-Online May 24, 2012: Turkish Kurdish politician Zana once again sentenced to imprisonment ( Memento from May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
20. ↑ Zana yine teröristbaşına sahip çıktı ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Zaman Online , accessed July 19, 2007 
21. ↑ 'Türkiye'nin eyaletlere bölünme zamanı gelmiştir' ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Zaman Online , accessed July 20, 2007 
22. ↑ "Eyaletlere bölünme zamanı gelmiştir" , CNN TÜRK ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 20, 2007 
23. ↑ "Eyaletlere bölünme zamanı gelmiştir" video ( memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , CNN TÜRK ( Memento of the original dated November 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 27, 2007  
24. ↑ Message from Odakhaber.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.