Leyla Zana accused of advocating autonomy for Kurds

Former Kurdish deputy Leyla Zana (right), the Rafto Prize Laureate 1994, faces an investigation after she called for division of Turkey into administrative states, including a “state of Kurdistan.” Zana spoke at a rally before elections in Turkey in support of pro-Kurdish independent candidates for Parliament. The investigation will determine whether Zana violated laws on incitement and state unity (06-AUG-07).

Text by Gunta Venge / HRH Bergen
Sources: Today’s Zaman, Kurdish Aspect and Turkish Daily News
Photos: Andrei Liankevich

“It is time for division of Turkey into states. Ankara, divide Turkey into states and establish the Kurdistan state,” said Zana. She said this would be tantamount to taking a step that Turkey failed to take during the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and added that such a shift in the administrative system would not mean “division of the country,” claiming that on the contrary that it would strengthen unity and coexistence.

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, criticized Zana’s remarks and called for an investigation. “These are very unfortunate remarks,” he told. “No one can … make such a provocation on the eve of the elections.” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül also lashed out at Zana for her remarks, saying they are “very irresponsible and provocative” on the eve of elections. Turkey’s unitary status is a highly charged issue amid mounting violence by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Many oppose moves to clip the powers of the central government out of fear that it could lead to a break-up of the country.


Background:
Zana was elected to Parliament of Turkey in 1991. When taking her parliamentary oath, she spoke Kurdish and wore a headband with the colours of the Kurdish flag, which were banned activities prior to 2002, and inflamed antipathy toward her. At her inauguration as a MP, she reportedly identified herself as a Kurd. Amnesty International reported “She took the oath of loyalty in Turkish, as required by law, and then added in Kurdish, ‘I shall struggle so that the Kurdish and Turkish peoples may live together in a democratic framework.’ 

Leyla Zana congratulates Vo Van Ai after the 2006 Rafto Prize Award ceremony in Bergen

Although her parliamentary immunity protected her, after she joined the Democracy    
Party, that party was banned and her immunity was stripped. In December 1994, along with four other Democracy Party MPs she was arrested and charged with treason and membership in the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

She was recognized as a “Prisoner of Conscience” by Amnesty International. In 1994 she was awarded the Rafto Prize. In 1998 her sentence was extended because of a letter she had written that was published in a Kurdish newspaper, which allegedly expressed banned pro-separatist views. While in prison she published a book titled Writings from Prison.