Mehdi Zana

Mehdi Zana (born 20 December 1940[1][2] in Silvan[3]) is an author and former Kurdish politician from Turkey.[4][5] He is prominent Kurdish political activist a former Mayor of Diyarbakır. Following the coup de état in 1980 he was imprisoned for more than ten years.

Mehdi Zana
Mayor of Diyarbakir
In office
1978–1980
Personal details
Born
Mehdi Bilici

(1940-12-20) 20 December 1940
Silvan
Political partyWorkers Party of Turkey

Early life and education

Zana went to the local elementary school and did not finish high school to begin to work as a tailor in Silvan.[6] The workshop he worked in was owned by a prominent Kurdist intellectual of the time, Niyazi Tatlıcı.[6] The tailor workshop has been described as a sort of a "university" by political activists of the time.[6] In the Eastern Meetings (Doğu mitingleri) he attempted to organize a Kurdish theater tour through four villages in Diyarbakir but didn't succeed.[7] Besides he was also involved in the Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths (DDKO).[3]

Political career

In 1963 he became a member of Workers Party of Turkey (TİP) of which two years later he became the head of the Silvan branch.[3] While in Silvan, he supported the establishment of a theater company with the aim to draw interest on socialism and the Kurdishness.[7] In the parliamentary election of 1969 the TIP, unsuccessfully put him forward as candidate for Diyarbakir.[6] He was straight forward and urged the people to acknowledge their Kurdishness and changed his Turkish given name Bilici into the Kurdish equivalent.[6] Due to his activism, he was detained for a year in the late 1960s and again between 1971 and 1974.[6] He also undertook journeys towards Syria and Iran, during which he attempted to extend his Kurdish political network.[6] In August 1977, he made his candidacy to the mayorship of Diyarbakir known to the public.[6] During the electoral campaign he often held speeches in Kurdish, and focused on a Kurdish "we" and a Turkish "they".[6] He rallied for the support of the Kurdish tribes, of which the tribes of the Omeyran and the Botan also supported him.[6] In the local elections of December 1977 he was elected as the first independent socialist mayor of Diyarbakır.[8] He won against the candidate supported by the TIP and the pro-Kurdish DDKO, Yahya Mehmetoğlu.[6] After the 1980 Turkish coup d'état he was imprisoned until April 1991. After his release he went to France for medical treatment until February 1992.[9] He was imprisoned again between 1994 and 1995.[10]

Political views

As mayor he engaged with other Kurds in the aim to foment a transnational aid network. He encouraged the use of Kurdish language in the city council and the municipality. He encouraged the use of Kurdish language in the city council and the municipality. He undertook various trips to Sweden, France and Germany and in 1979 several socialist-run cities in France sent fifteen trucks and buses to Diyarbakir as gift.[8] As was a member of the DDKO, and a constant defender of Kurdish rights[11] and acknowledged the Kurdish role in the Armenian genocide.[12]

Personal life

Mehdi Zana has been married to politician Leyla Zana since 1975[13] and the couple has two children.[10] He was imprisoned for 16 years during his life.[4][5] After his release in 1995, he went to receive the Sakharov Prize in 1996 on behalf of his imprisoned wife, Leyla Zana.[10] Following his release, has lived for several years in exile in Europe where he lived in Sweden[10] and Germany. Mehdi changed his name from the Turkish Bilici into the Kurdish equivalent Zana.[3]

Bibliography
  • Zana, Mehdî (2013). Wait Diyarbakir: Account of Kurdish Struggle. Blue Crane Books Inc. ISBN 978-1-886434-11-0.
  • Zana, Mehdî (2006). Postal darbelerıyle uyanmak (in Kurdish). İstanbul: Medîsa Eğitim Basım Yayın Reklam. ISBN 978-975-9094-63-8. OCLC 542825389.
  • Zana, Mehdî (2005). Ay dayê. Weşanên Tevn; Roman (in Kurdish). Aksaray, İstanbul: Weşanên Tevn. ISBN 978-975-9094-03-4. OCLC 72801208.
  • Zana, Mehdî (2004). Parastina min (in Kurdish). Stockholm: Evra. ISBN 978-91-87662-51-5. OCLC 84678587.
  • Zana, Mehdî; Vauquelin, André (1997). Prison no. 5 : eleven years in Turkish jails (1 ed.). Watertown, MA, USA: Blue Crane Books. ISBN 978-1-886434-05-9. OCLC 260083915.
  • Zana, Mehdî (1995). Sevgili Leyla : uzun bir sürgündü o gece. Belge Yayınları, 243; Yaşam ve anılar (in Turkish) (1 ed.). İstanbul: Belge Yayınları. ISBN 978-975-344-086-8. OCLC 260193256.

References
  1. Profile of Mehdi Zana
  2. https://www.rudaw.net/turkish/kurdistan/04012023
  3. "Mehdi Zana". www.biyografya.com. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  4. "Mehdi Zana" (in Swedish). Stockholm Sweden: Foundation For A Kurdish Library & Museum. January 23, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2011. At: "KORT BIOGRAFI ÖVER FÖRFATTAREN OCH POLITIKERN MEHDI ZANA"
  5. "Mehdi Zana, a voice from behind the bars". The Middle East Magazine. Tel Aviv: Middle East Magazine Ltd. May 1996. OCLC 32187870. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  6. Dorronsoro, Gilles; Watts, Nicole F. (August 2009). "Toward Kurdish distinctiveness in electoral politics: The 1977 local elections in Diyarbakir". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 41 (3): 457–478. doi:10.1017/S0020743809091156. ISSN 1471-6380. S2CID 154375412.
  7. Çelik, Duygu (2020-09-07). Korangy, Alireza (ed.). Kurdish Art and Identity. De Gruyter. p. 104. doi:10.1515/9783110599626. ISBN 978-3-11-059962-6. S2CID 225263554.
  8. Watts, Nicole F. (2011-07-01). Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey. University of Washington Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-295-80082-0.
  9. "UA 108/92 - TURKEY: MEDICAL / HEALTH CONCERN: MEHDI ZANA" (PDF). Amnesty International. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  10. "Background Information - 08-10-2004". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  11. Neely, Kari (2014), Phillips, Philip Edward (ed.), "Mehdi Zana and the Struggle for Kurdish Ethnic Identity in Turkey", Prison Narratives from Boethius to Zana, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 215–236, doi:10.1057/9781137428684_12, ISBN 978-1-137-42868-4, retrieved 2021-04-18
  12. Belçim Galip, Özlem (24 December 2016). "The Politics of Remembering: Representation of the Armenian Genocide in Kurdish Novels". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 30 (3): 458–487. doi:10.1093/hgs/dcw063.
  13. "TURKEY : Leyla Zana, the only Kurdish woman MP". The Middle East Magazine. Tel Aviv: Middle East Magazine Ltd. October 1993. OCLC 32187870. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
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