Leyla Zana (born May 3, 1961 in
Silvan,
Diyarbakir Province), is a
Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political activism, which was deemed by the Turkish courts to be against the unity of the country. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional Court's decision to ban this party. She has been elected as an independent member of parliament for Diyarbakir by the support of
Peace and Democracy Party.
