Biography
Leyla Zana (born 1961), Kurdish-Turkish politician and the first Kurdish woman in the Turkish parliament. Born in the village of Bahce near Amed, she married the politician Mehdi Zana at the age of fourteen; he later became mayor of Amed. She entered politics after his imprisonment in the 1980 coup. Elected to parliament in 1991, she added in her oath of office one sentence in Kurdish: 'I take this oath in the hope that the Turkish and Kurdish peoples may live together in peace within a democratic framework' — and was charged with treason and sentenced to fifteen years. Europe awarded her the Sakharov Prize in 1995 while she was in prison; she was released in 2004. She returned to parliament twice, and is regarded as a symbol of peace between Turks and Kurds.