Writers in Prison Committee
If not now, when?
TURKEY: A Nation at the Crossroads
Writers in Prison Committee
If not now, when?
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An MP and Writer in Prison
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 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 country's first ever Kurdish woman to be elected to Turkey's 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 organizations, 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 region's 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 women's 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 colors 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 defence 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 color 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. In February 2003, Turkey adopted a new law as part of a drive by the Turkish government to meet human rights standards which is a precondition for the commencement of accession negotiations between Turkey and the European Union. According to the new law, if the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decides that a sentence handed down by a Turkish court is in violation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, this would be sufficient reason for a retrial. Leyla Zana's retrial, along with that of three other former deputies of the Turkish Parliament, began on April 28, 2003 at Ankara No. 1 State Security Court. However, a request for their release was refused by the court and the former deputies remain in prison. A further request by the lawyer that the chief judge of the court be recused was also refused. The chief judge had initially opposed the request for a retrial on the grounds that - in his opinion - the initial trial was not in contravention of the ECHR and that the request for retrial was therefore "baseless." He was overruled by the other two presiding judges but his continued involvement in this case despite this statement could be in breach of the right to an impartial tribunal which states that judges and jurors should not have a pre-formed opinion about a case.The next session of the trial will be in Ankara on June 20, 2003. During her time in prison, Zana's 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. Thanks are due Lucina Kathman of San Miguel Allende PEN Centre for help with the research on this case and to Amnesty International for providing the information on Leyla Zana's retrial.
Please contact ftw@pen.org if you have any questions.
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