Leyla Zana

Leyla Zana
Zana in 2007
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 20 October 1991 – 30 June 1994
Constituency	Diyarbakır (1991)
In office 12 June 2011 – 11 January 2018
Constituency	Diyarbakır (2011) Ağrı (June 2015, Nov 2015)
Personal details
Born	(1961-05-03) 3 May 1961 (age 63) Silvan, Diyarbakır, Turkey
Citizenship	Turkish
Political party	Democratic Society Party (2005–2009) Peoples' Democratic Party (2014–present)
Spouse	Mehdi Zana ​ (m. 1975)​
Children	2
Occupation	Peace activist

Leyla Zana (born 3 May 1961) is a Kurdish politician. She was imprisoned for ten years for her political activism, which was deemed by the Turkish courts to be against the unity of the country. She was awarded the 1995 Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament but was unable to collect it until her release in 2004. She was also awarded the Rafto Prize in 1994 after being recognized by the Rafto Foundation for being incarcerated for her peaceful struggle for the human rights of the Kurdish people in Turkey and the neighbouring countries.^[1]