Sabite Ekinci (born 1970,

Varto Varto (, ku, Gimgim, grc-x-medieval, Barzanissa) is a town and district in Muş Province, Turkey. The population of Varto city is around 13,000 with another 17,000 living in the villages. The largest population from Varto in Europe is in Berli ...

, Turkey) is a Turkish film director, teacher and politician of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

descent. She has been the mayor of Varto and her documentary ''Corpses without souls'' won an award at the

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival ( tr, Antalya Altın Portakal Film Festivali), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most impor ...

Early life and education

Ekinci was born in Varto, where she attended high school. After having completed her studied at the

Gazi University Gazi University ( tr, Gazi Üniversitesi) is a public university primarily located in Ankara, Turkey. It was established in 1926 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as Gazi Teacher Training Institute. In 1982, it was reorganized by merging with the Bolu ...

she became a teacher. She moved to Istanbul in 1998. In 2005 to 2006 she studied

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

at the Müjdat Gezen Art center.

Professional career

She was a teacher for eighteen years in several cities in Turkey. She produced a documentary about , the Mayor of Kiziltepe and widow of Democracy Party (DEP) MP

Mehmet Sincar Mehmet Sincar (1953 in İkipınar, Mardin Province – 4 September 1993 in Batman) was a Kurdish politician from Turkey and a Democracy Party (DEP) member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He was assassinated in September 1993 toget ...

. Her documentary "Bodies without souls" (

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

''Bedensiz Ruhlar'') which treats the experiences of six prostitutes received the best documentary award at the

in 2011. For the documentary she attempted to shoot in brothels, but when their cameras were detected the crew was threatened and she had to abandon the project of filming inside brothels. During the shoot, she was pregnant with her second child which also affected her as she learned that prostitutes also have children. Some were given away for adoption and one prostitute had three daughters who also became prostitutes.

Political career

In the local elections of 2014, as a candidate for the

Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party ( tr, Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi, ku, Partiya Aştî û Demokrasiyê, BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 20 ...

(BDP) she was elected as the mayor of Varto with over 63% of the votes. In November 2016, she was arrested for terror related offenses and causing damage to the municipality and was replaced by a state-appointed trustee. Having initially been imprisoned in

Muş Muş (; hy, Մուշ; ku, Mûş) is a city and the provincial capital of Muş Province in Turkey. Its population is mostly Kurds. Etymology Various explanations of the origin of Muş's name exist. Its name is sometimes associated with the Arm ...

, she was transferred to Sincan prison in Ankara.{{Cite web , title=Solidarität mit politischen Gefangenen in der Türkei , url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c1b8be445776e1be787b459/t/620e26a37575340d1cdc3620/1645094566524/2203-Solibrief-d.pdf

Personal life

Ekinci has two children and is married.

References

1970 births Living people People from Varto Gazi University alumni Turkish educators Turkish film directors Women mayors of places in Turkey Turkish Kurdish politicians