Leyla Birlik

Leyla Birlik (born 3 March 1974, Derik, Mardin[1]) is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former member of the Gran National Assembly of Turkey.[2] She is currently a member of the executive council[3] and the head of the Women Committee in the Kurdistan National Congress.[4]

Political career

Before she became an Member of Parliament she served as the president of the local council in Şırnak.[1] Birlik was elected to the Turkish parliament in the general elections on June 2015[5] and re-elected in the snap elections of November 2015 both times representing Şırnak for the HDP.[6]

She was arrested on the 4 November 2016 together with fellow HDP MPs Nursel Aydoğan, Selahattin Demirtaş, İdris Baluken, Figen Yüksekdag and Gülser Yildirim.[7] She was charged with having insulted the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a speech she held in 2015[8] European parliamentarians from Austria around Peter Pilz, were not allowed to visit her at the time by the Turkish authorities.[9] She was released pending trial on the 4 January 2017.[10][11] The same court also issued also a prohibition on travels abroad. In January 2018 she was sentenced to 1 year and 9 months imprisonment for insulting the president. She appealed the verdict.[8]

In exile

In August 2018, she fled to Oristiada, Greece and applied for asylum.[8] In December she was sentenced to a prison term again, this time for violating a law concerning on meetings and manifestations.[12] From Greece she traveled on to Germany where she also applied for asylum and it was granted. It was reported that a file with informations about her was confiscated by the Turkish authorities following the arrest of the lawyer of the German Embassy.[13]

Personal life

She is married to Mehmet Birlik[14] and has a child.[1] Her first term as an MP was marked by the fact that her brother in law Hacı Lokman Birlik[15] was killed by Turkish security forces, tied to a police car and dragged through the streets of Şırnak on in October 2015.[16] The father of Haci Lokman Birlik was later prosecuted for attending his sons funeral.[17]

References
  1. "Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi". www.tbmm.gov.tr. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  2. international, medico. "Türkei - Autoritäre Formierung". medico international (in German). Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  3. "Executive Council | Kurdistan National Congress". Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  4. "Commissions and Committees | Kurdistan National Congress". Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  5. "HDP Şırnak Seçim Sonuçları - 7 Haziran 2015 Genel Seçimleri | SABAH". www.sabah.com.tr. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  6. "1 Kasım Şırnak seçim sonuçları son durum". www.sozcu.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  7. "HDP MPs Aydoğan, Birlik Arrested". Bianet - Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  8. "Former Kurdish MP from Turkey to appeal for asylum in Greece | Kathimerini". www.ekathimerini.com. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  9. "Österreichische Abgeordnete vor Gefängnis vertrieben - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  10. "21 Months in Prison for HDP MP Leyla Birlik". Bianet - Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  11. "Printable". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  12. "Former pro-Kurdish deputies face prison". Ahval. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  13. Kimmerle, Elisabeth (2019-12-07). "Riskante Recherchen". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). pp. I. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  14. "Şırnak Milletvekili Leyla Birlik Kimdir?". Bianet - Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  15. "Turkish court overturns acquittal of Kurdish man charged for attending son's funeral". Ahval. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  16. "Who was the man Turkish police dragged through the streets?". France 24. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  17. "Turkish court overturns acquittal of Kurdish man charged for attending son's funeral". Ahval. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
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