She was the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish Parliament. I was forced to take off my clothes and was brutally beaten.” Angry and unbowed, Zana ran for parliament and won a seat and in 1991. “For seven days I was interrogated under torture. “I was detained during a protest in front of Diyarbakir prison in 1988”, she said.

In the course of defending her imprisoned husband and other detainees, Zana herself fell victim to official brutality. “The Turkish legal system has done its part, now it´s the others´ turn.” “This is the last bargaining chip in the hands of those who were seeking excuses in Turkey´s EU bid,” Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying. Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said those who opposed Turkey´s entry into the EU should think again. “Today´s decision is a sign that the implementation of political reforms, which Turkey has been introducing in the past two years, is gaining ground,” said Guenther Verheugen. Both the Turkish Minister of Justice, Cemil Cicek, and the EU commissioner for enlargement, Guenther Verheugen, links the release to the Turkey´s entry into the EU. The four had their sentences confirmed in an earlier retrial this year, but European institutions warned that their continued imprisonment would affect Turkey´s efforts to join the EU. Her appeal will begin on 8 July, but it is thought that the court then will quash the verdict. Leyla Zana, was sent to jail for 15 years – along with fellow MPs Orhan Dogan, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak – for collaborating with the PKK. The 1994 Rafto Prize award recipient, said after her release “Today is not the day to fuel sad feelings or pain, today is the day for brotherhood and understanding.” The Kurdish Joan of Arc, Leyla Zana, and three other prominent Kurdish MPs have been freed after ten years from Turkish jail pending on appeal.

Writings from Prison by Leyla Zana