The treason charges were not put before the court, and Zana denied PKK affiliation but with the prosecution relying on witness statements allegedly obtained under torture, Zana and the others were sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In December 1994, along with four other Democracy Party MPs (Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan), she was arrested and charged with treason and membership in the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.” Only the final sentence of the oath was spoken in Kurdish: “I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.” Although Zana’s parliamentary immunity protected her, after she joined the Democracy Party, that party was banned and her immunity was stripped. Her remarks ended, “I swear by my honor and my dignity before the great Turkish people to protect the integrity and independence of the State, the indivisible unity of people and homeland, and the unquestionable and unconditional sovereignty of the people. Only in that year, 1991, was the Kurdish language finally legalized, though speaking Kurdish remained illegal in public spaces, as Zana was sworn in.

The Kurdish language, even when spoken in private, had been illegal for decades in Turkey. She created a scandal when she spoke Kurdish on the floor of the parliament after being sworn in, as speaking Kurdish in the public arena was then considered as a criminal offense in Turkey. In 1991 she became the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish parliament. When she was 14 years old, she was married to Mehdi Zana who was the mayor of Diyarbakır until the military coup d’état and a political prisoner after it. Dashni Morad - #FemaleVoicesOfTheWorld Leyla Zana BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) MP Leyla Zana was born in May 1961, in Silvan, Diyarbakır Province, in the southeast of Turkey.

Writings from Prison by Leyla Zana