Gülser Yıldırım (born 1 January 1963,

Nusaybin Nusaybin () is a municipality and district of Mardin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,079 km2, and its population is 115,586 (2022). The city is populated by Kurds of different tribal affiliation. Nusaybin is separated from the larger Kurd ...

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and former member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

. In 2011, she was elected into the Turkish parliament out of prison, but had to wait until 2014 until she was allowed to assume by a Turkish court.

Early life and education

She was born in Nusaybin, where she attended primary and secondary school. She was arrested due to an investigation into the activities of the

Kurdistan Communities Union The Kurdistan Communities Union (, KCK) is a Kurdish political organization committed to implementing Abdullah Öcalan's ideology of democratic confederalism. The KCK also serves as an umbrella group for several confederalist political parties o ...

(KCK) in 2010. Despite being imprisoned, she became an independent candidate for

in the parliamentary elections of 2011.

Political career

She was elected as an independent member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the General elections of 2011 representing Mardin. Due to her imprisonment, along with three other elected politicians from the

Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party (, , BDP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey existing from 2008 to 2014. Development BDP succeeded the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 2008, following the closure of the latter party for its alleged conne ...

(BDP), she was not allowed to assume her post. She was released together with fellow BDP politician

Ibrahim Ayhan Ibrahim may refer to: * Ibrahim (name), including a list of people with the name ** Abraham in Islam * Ibrahim (surah), a surah of the Qur'an * Ibrahim (play), ''Ibrahim'' (play) or ''Ibrahim The Illustrious Bassa'', a 1676 tragedy by Elkanah Set ...

in January 2014, on grounds that as elected Members of Parliament, their rights have been violated with their imprisonment. Their release was noted with satisfaction by the Inter Parliamentarian Union. She was elected to the Turkish parliament in the general elections of June 2015, and re-elected during the snap elections in November 2015, both times representing Mardin for the HDP. She was detained on the 4 November 2016 together with eleven other parliamentarians of the HDP. In April 2018, she was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison for attending manifestations in opposition to the curfews in the Kurdish majority towns in 2016 and funeral services of fighters of the

Kurdistan Workers Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurdish militant political organization and armed gu ...

(PKK). Yildirim has been included into a program of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

supporting twelve politicians of the HDP. Through the program, Nils Schmid of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD) advocated for her release. In October 2020, following her attendance in a hearing relating to investigations into the Kobane protests, she was released into house arrest pending trial. On the 17 March 2021, the State Prosecutor before the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

of Turkey

Bekir Şahin Bekir Şahin (born 1 March 1960, Mecitözü, Turkey) is a jurist, former judge and the current State Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation in Turkey. Education He was educated at the Imam Hatip school and studied law at the Dokuz Eylül Univer ...

filed a lawsuit before the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

demanding for her and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics. The lawsuit was filed jointly with a request for a closure of the HDP due to the parties alleged organizational links with the PKK.

Personal life

She is married and has four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yildirim, Gulser Turkish Kurdish women 21st-century Turkish women politicians 21st-century Kurdish politicians Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Democratic Regions Party politicians 1963 births Living people People expelled from public office People from Nusaybin Kurdish women in politics 21st-century Kurdish women