Leyla Birlik (born 3 March 1974,

Derik Derik ( ku, Dêrika Çiyayê Mazî) is a town in the Derik District in Mardin Province of Turkey. The town had a population of 18,942 in 2021. Government In the local elections of April 10 Mülkiye Esmez from the Peoples' Democratic Party was e ...

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...

) is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former member of the Gran National Assembly of Turkey. She is currently a member of the executive council and the head of the Women Committee in the

Kurdistan National Congress The Kurdistan National Congress (Kurdish: ''Kongreya Neteweyî ya Kurdistanê,'' KNC or KNK) is a multi-national platform of Kurdish groups and parties of all tendencies, which aims for the independence of Kurdistan. It was founded on 14 April 1 ...

Political career

Before she became an Member of Parliament she served as the president of the local council in

Şırnak Şırnak ( ku, شرنەخ, Şirnex) is a town in southeastern Turkey. It is the capital of Şırnak Province, a new province that split from the Mardin and Siirt provinces. The Habur border gate with Iraq which is one of Turkey's main links to Arab ...

. Birlik was elected to the Turkish parliament in the general elections in June 2015 and re-elected in the snap elections of November 2015 both times representing

for the HDP.

Legal prosecution

She was arrested on the 4 November 2016 together with fellow HDP MPs Nursel Aydoğan,

Selahattin Demirtaş Selahattin Demirtaş (born 10 April 1973) is a politician, author, and former member of the parliament of Turkey. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to ...

, İdris Baluken, Figen Yüksekdag and Gülser Yildirim. She was charged with having insulted the president of Turkey,

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

in a speech she held in 2015 or having attended the funeral of her brother in law, who the prosecution sees as a member of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK). European parliamentarians from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

around

Peter Pilz Peter Pilz (born 22 January 1954) is an Austrian politician ( JETZT). From 1986 to 2017, he was a member of the Austrian Green Party. Political career Born in Kapfenberg, Styria, Pilz has been a member of the Austrian Parliament (''Nationalrat'' ...

, were not allowed to visit her at the time by the Turkish authorities. She was released pending trial on the 4 January 2017. 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.

In exile

In August 2018, she fled to Oristiada,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and applied for asylum. In December she was sentenced to a prison term again, this time for violating a law concerning on meetings and manifestations. From Greece she traveled on to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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.

Personal life

She is married to Mehmet Birlik and has a child. Her first term as an MP was marked by the fact that her brother in law Hacı Lokman Birlik was killed by Turkish security forces, tied to a police car and dragged through the streets of

on in October 2015. The father of Haci Lokman Birlik was later prosecuted for attending his sons funeral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birlik, Leyla Turkish Kurdish politicians Turkish Kurdish women Politicians arrested in Turkey 1974 births Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians People from Derik Deputies of Şırnak Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey 21st-century Turkish politicians 21st-century Turkish women politicians Living people