A Kurdish MP Leyla Zana in Prison
Leyla Zana
An MP and Writer in Prison
on the imprisonment of the Kurdish politician Zana, whose case the WiPC has recently adopted, having established that she has writing credentials and that her imprisonment is in part a deliberate punishment for her exercise of free expression.
Leyla Zana: a life of Kurdish activism
I want to tell you about a suffering land and the concerted efforts of the ruling circles to deny the very existence of its people. I am talking of the struggles of those who are standing up to oppression and working for peace, freedom, brotherhood, democracy and labour rights. In other words, I am referring to the reality of my country, of its peoples and the state of affairs unfolding in it If it needs to be stated again, I belong to those who seek peace.
Leyla Zana, writing in 1998 from her prison cell to the wife of the President of Turkey
Leyla Zana has been in prison since 1994. She is serving a 15-year sentence for her activities as a Kurdish activist, and an additional 2-year term for an article written in 1998 while in jail. She is famous in Turkey as the countrys first ever Kurdish woman to be elected to Turkeys parliament.
During the 1990s, she also worked as a journalist on a now defunct paper, Yeni Ülke. Her imprisonment has been denounced by many human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, which has adopted her as a Prisoner of Conscience.
Born in 1961 in south-eastern Turkey, where the population is predominantly Kurdish, Leyla Zana married Mehdi Zana, the elected mayor of Diyarbakir (the regions main city), while still a teenager. He was imprisoned after the 1980 military coup.
Leyla Zana found herself forced to fend for herself as a young mother of two (a son, Ronay and daughter, Ruken). She taught herself Turkish and became a prominent spokeswoman for all those whose sons or husbands were jailed. She gained a high school diploma, and founded an influential womens group, with offices in Istanbul and Diyarbakir.
She later began writing for Yeni Ülke, emerging as an editor in the Diyarbakir office, where her articles on feminism, democracy and Kurdish issues brought her national prominence. The journal was subjected to intensive harassment from the authorities, however, and was eventually closed down.
In 1991, Leyla Zana was permitted to stand for parliament in her district in Diyarbakir. She won the election convincingly and moved to Ankara to take up her seat.
At her inauguration as an MP, she reportedly identified herself as a Kurd. Amnesty International writes: She took the oath of loyalty in Turkish, as required by law, then added in Kurdish, I shall struggle so that the Kurdish and Turkish peoples may live together in a democratic framework.
She is also reported to have worn a headband with the traditional Kurdish colours of yellow, green and red.
These actions, and many of her public statements and actions of solidarity with the Kurds might well have led to charges being pressed against her, but she was for a time protected by her parliamentary immunity.
However, in 1994, after she and three other Kurdish MPS (all men) joined the newly formed Democracy Party, which was quickly banned by the authorities, her immunity was lifted, and she and the other three were arrested. They were accused of treason and promptly jailed.
Leyla Zana On Trial
The treason charge was soon dropped, but she was instead charged with membership of the illegal armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Prosecutors at her trial relied on statements by witnesses who were themselves facing prosecution, and who later retracted their statements, claiming that they had been extracted under torture. Zana was found guilty and sentenced to a 15-year term.
In her defense speech at the State Security Court in Ankara, Leyla Zana explained her stance on Kurdish issues:
My worst crime, in the view of the prosecution, seems to be a phrase I spoke in Kurdish on the brotherhood of Kurds and Turks and their coexistence in equality and democracy when I took the loyalty oath in Parliament. Even the colour of my clothes seems to have been a separatist crime. Furthermore, simply by mentioning the existence of the Kurdish people and Kurdistan, by peaceably demanding recognition of Kurdish culture and identity in a democratic system and within existing borders, I have supposedly defended the aims of the Kurdistan Workers Party But that party is engaged in an armed struggle, while all my activity is aimed at silencing the weapons and seeking a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem.
Leyla Zana behind bars
In 1995, Zana won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. In July 2001 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that her trial had been unfair. Turkey has recently adopted a law which states that any trial found unfair by the European Court should be subject to judicial review; however, Zanas trial is not eligible as the law is not retroactive.
During her time in prison, her writings have been collected and published in English by Blue Crane Books, Massachusetts, USA, under the title Writings from Prison. She has also published many articles. One such article, written in 1998, earned her an additional two-year prison term. The article, which does not advocate violence or racial hatred, was about Nevruz, a Kurdish holiday.
Action to Take
Letters should be sent to the Turkish Authorities stating PENs concern that Leyla Zanas initial trial was unfair and that it should therefore be subject to a judicial review and that pending this review she should be released. The letter should also state PENs concern that Leyla Zana has been punished for exercising her right to freedom of expression, and urge that the two-year term handed down to her for her 1998 article should be overturned.
Those PEN centres interested in adopting Leyla Zana as an Honorary Member should contact the WiPC.
Please see Recommended Actions for addresses of relevant authorities and other campaigning ideas.
Thanks are due to Lucina Kathman of San Miguel Allende PEN Centre for help with the research on this case.