Züleyxa "Zuzu" Izmailova ( az, Züleyxa İsmayılova; born 13 June 1985) is an Estonian journalist, environmental activist and politician, who was the leader of the

Estonian Greens The Estonian Greens ( et, Erakond Eestimaa Rohelised, EER) is a green political party in Estonia. Founded in 2006, the party held six seats in the Riigikogu from 2007 to 2011. Its objective is to ensure that Estonia's development is environmen ...

from March 2017 to February 2022.

Biography

Izmailova was born to an Azerbaijani father and

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

mother. Her partner is fellow member of the Estonian Greens Board Joonas Laks, with whom she has two children. Izmailova studied

geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

Kehtna Kehtna (german: Kechtel) is a small borough ( et, alevik) in Rapla County, in central Estonia, located about southeast of the town of Rapla. Other nearby settlements include Keava, Kaerepere and Lelle. Kehtna is the administrative centre of Keht ...

Vocational Education Center from 2005 to 2008, but did not graduate.

Political career

From 2005 to 2012, she was a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

. On 27 March 2017, Izmailova was elected as the leader of the Estonian Greens party. She was one of the candidates for the mayoralty of Tallinn in 2017. On 9 November 2017, she became one of the deputy mayors of Tallinn, with Taavi Aas as the mayor of Tallinn. She is also a noted environmental activist, staging several protests about the environmental concerns of the

Rail Baltica Rail Baltica (also known as Rail Baltic in Estonia) is a high-speed railway under construction between Warsaw, Poland and Tallinn, Estonia, with further connections to Finland via Baltic Sea cruiseferries or the proposed Helsinki–Tallinn Tunne ...

project, as well as advocating for the strengthening of environmental regulations in Estonia. Züleyxa Izmailova left the Estonian Greens in February 2022 and in May 2022 announced she had joined Eesti 200. In May 2023 she entered the

Estonian Parliament The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Jus ...

following the resignation of Johanna-Maria Lehtme.

Awards

* 2016 – Anne & Stiil magazine Woman of the Year

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Izmailova, Zulyexa 1985 births Living people Estonian people of Azerbaijani descent Estonian journalists Estonian women journalists Estonian Greens politicians 21st-century Estonian politicians Politicians from Tallinn 21st-century Estonian women politicians