Free Leyla Zana!

Earlier this month, a Turkish court in Amed [Diyarbekir] sentenced Leyla Zana for another 10 years for her speeches given during the past year. According to Turkish Courts, she "indirectly expressed support" for the PKK. Leyla Zana first gained notoriety in 1991, when her oath into the Turkish parliament ended in a Kurdish sentence; "I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people."At the time, Kurdish was banned in Turkey, or as put by the Turkish state, "It was not a recognized language." This quickly generated some charges against her and was "linked" to the PKK, resulting in a 15 years sentence in 1994. During the time she was in jail, she won various awards for her peaceful actions, among them the 1994 Rafto Prize for Human Rights, 1995 Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights, 1995 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005. With the pressure of the EU, her case was asked to be resubmitted to the courts for appeals. She was then released in 2004, five years before her sentencing was up.

Good Timing
Her current sentence comes at a perfect timing. According to bianet.org, "The court also decided to deprive Zana of the right to participate in elections either as a candidate or a voter, and the other political rights under article 53/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK)." This came while the pro-Kurdish party, Democratic Society Party (DTP), was gaining support in Turkish occupied Kurdistan. Leyla Zana was going to be one of the candidates during their upcoming elections that would represent the Kurdish city of Batman. There seems to be a clear connection here; every time a Kurd becomes popular within the political system of Turkey, he or she will quickly be charged with cases relating to "terror" or other ways are found to charge them through the corrupt and anti-Kurdish laws that is ruling Turkey. I made this flyer to raise awareness for Leyla Zana's current situation. I encourage everyone to send and pass it out to their friends and family. Please feel free to post it on your websites, blogs, facebooks, myspaces, etc...

From the pages of my mother's diary

Translated from Kurdish: An anonymous telephone call from an Arab man warned Azad against a death warrant released by Saddam Hussein. His boss insisted that he stay, but he knew he was seconds away from meeting death. He walked out of his job and came home to tell me we had to leave our home, again. He walked into the house yelling, “Get the kids ready and let’s leave.” I was cooking and turned off the stove to get my kids. I left the house, unchanged and looking disheveled. It was May of 1987, when Azad, the children and I, along with a few thousand Kurds who had Pêşmêrge family members and/or didn’t want their sons and husbands fighting under Saddam’s regime, fled to Iran. My husband’s brothers, Pêşmêrges, Hiwa and Kamaran, who was later martyred, took my daughters and walked at a faster pace. Azad and I hadn’t realized we had strayed from the path we were supposed to be heading. We kept walking until a man in Kurdish clothes holding a cane with a sack* at the end of it, yelled, “Mall kawline, where are you going?!” Azad asked, “Why?” The man told us we had stepped into a mine field. I stopped dead in my tracks and felt my legs shaking, I thought I would fall on my face. My face turned pale and my eyes widened. When Azad noticed this, he took our son from my arms while reassuring me and reminding me it was best not to panic. Seconds later, the most heroic words escaped my husband’s mouth, “Please don’t be scared and don’t panic. I will lay my foot down, pick it up, and you put yours there.” I could not believe what I was experiencing and as I think back to that day, I realize Azad’s facial expression had not changed a bit. We walked 150 feet with my heart beating at an unimaginable rate. The 15 minutes seemed like 15 lifetimes.

* When my mother described the Kurdish man carrying the cane and sack, my imagination fled to a media-portrayed image of a hobo. He was no less than an angel though.

Can every Kurdish woman be an activist?

During an interview for the “Raise Breast Cancer Awareness in Kurdistan” campaign, a journalist asked me whether or not every Kurdish girl could be an activist. Although I quickly responded affirmatively, the question continued to linger in my mind. It also took me back to my childhood when my mother told us stories about her days as an activist with my father. Fearing her stories would be forgotten, my father purchased a diary for her; in which she has written for over a decade. Occasionally, she reads me excerpts from her diary and asks me to translate them for her. One of my favorite stories is one that occurred four years before I was born:

“In 1985, I left my daughters with my mother-in-law in Helebce and returned to Slêmanî with Azad and an undercover Pê to transfer secret papers which contained tasks that needed to be carried out by other undercover Pêşmerges in Slêmanî. Knowing we would encounter several checkpoints, we decided to put the papers between Hewramî bread. We took our seats at the back of the bus hoping we would attract less attention. It wasn’t long before our bus was forced to stop by Baath soldiers who boarded the bus shouting at us while inspecting our bags and anything else we carried. In an attempt to not appear pale with fright, I began to pinch my cheeks, hoping to regain some color. A soldier halted before me, reached for the bread and angrily asked, "What is that?" Calmly, Azad responded, ‘Hewrami bread – my mother made it for us.’ The soldier shot me a sceptical glance and at that moment I could think of nothing else but my daughters and the kinds of lives they would live without a mother or a father. Luckily, my fears were laid to rest as he turned around and walked off the bus. We reached 7 additional checkpoints only to be treated harsher each time.”

My father continuously reminded my mother that she could choose to live a different life, one that didn”t consist of constant danger and relocation. However, my mother was a firm believer in fighting for the Kurdish cause and would not hear of it - even after giving birth to her fifth child. Hearing such stories from my mother, aunts and sisters, I begin to think of other courageous women who have struggled for the Kurdish cause as well as women’s rights. One woman in particular is Leyla Zana who was imprisoned for pronouncing the concluding sentence of her oath in Kurdish. She was recently sentenced once again to another 10 years for her speeches. Aside from their birth years, my mother and Leyla Zana share significant similarities; they are Kurdish activists, mothers, and both worked under dangerous conditions but were persistent in their endeavor.


Our history presents us with countless stories of other brave women who fought endlessly for the same cause, under various circumstances. Some prominent female figures include, Adîle Xanim who received the title of Khan Bahadur by the British administration and saved the lives of several British officers during World War I, Leyla Qasim, executed in 1974 for working against the Baath regime, and Hepse Xanî Neqîb, who actively promoted education and handled the jailing of British Administrators under Shex Mehmûd Berzincî’s orders. In 1930, Hepse Xan sent a petition to the League of Nations protesting the encroachment on Kurdish rights in Iraq. Other women include, Zekîye Heqî, the first female judge in the Middle East, Asenath Barzani, one of the very first female rabbis, and Fatima Xanim, who administered 8 villages after her husband’s death. At a time only males were entitled to participate in parliamentary elections, she was chosen by the villages to vote on their behalf. The following women also contributed eminently to Kurdistan as well as Kurdish women’s rights movement; Rabi’a, Mina Xanim, and Meryem Xan. There are several other names but literature on Kurdish women is very limited.

Young Kurdish women in America have also stepped up and are, not only playing active roles in their communities but, demanding change. In an article entitled, "Supporting Our Young Kurdish Women," Ms. Sheinei Saleem talks about a young Kurdish girl’s determination in pursuing an education after high school. She points out that this individual was not permitted to attend college but her "personal courage and determination" helped her accomplish that goal. Ms. Sheinei will agree with me when I say, young Kurdish women everywhere need to demand equality and take all paths necessary to achieve their desired goals and dreams. To answer Gurgin Bakircioglu’s question, yes, every Kurdish woman can be an activist and our past and present provide clear proof of that.