Gültan Kışanak (born 15 June 1961) is a Kurdish journalist, author and politician from Turkey. Kışanak was born in

Elazığ Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plai ...

in 1961. Her family is originally from Tunceli. She is a 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 ...

and Head of Municipality of

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

. She has been imprisoned since October 2016.

Education

In 1978 Kışanak began studying at the Faculty of Education of Dicle University but was arrested in 1980 and imprisoned in the Diyarbakir Prison for two years. According to her own account, she was forced to stay in the prison warden's dog kennel for two months because she refused to stand up in his presence. In another speech, she said that she slept in a dog hut for six months. She began studying journalism at

Ege University Ege University or Aegean University () is a public research university in Bornova, İzmir. It was founded in 1955 with the faculties of Medicine and Agriculture. It is the first university to start courses in İzmir and the fourth oldest unive ...

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, in 1986. On the March 16, 1988, she was arrested while protesting

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

's attack on

Halabja Halabja (, ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the capital of Halabja Governorate, located about northeast of Baghdad and from the Iranian border. The city lies at the base of what is often referred to as the greater Hewraman re ...

. She was released one year later. After her release, she graduated in 1990.

Journalistic career

From 1990 to 1992, she wrote for the newspaper '' Yeni Ülke''. Afterward, from 1990 to 2004, she worked as an editor-in-chief, an editorial coordinator, or a news director in a variety of newspapers. For the pro-Kurdish ''

Özgür Gündem ''Özgür Gündem'' (Turkish language, Turkish for "Free Agenda") was an Istanbul-based daily Turkish language newspaper, mainly read by Kurds. Launched in May 1992, the newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish confl ...

,'' she reported from

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

and after she moved to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, she served as its editor-in-chief for a while. Following the closure of ''Özgür Gündem'' in 1994, she wrote for '' Özgür Ülke'' which was shut down on February 2, 1995, on the grounds that it represented a continuation of ''Özgür Gündem''.

Political career

In 2004 she became a social policy consultant in the Baĝlar Municipality in Diyarbakir and was involved in the Kardelen Women's House in

. She stood successfully as an independent candidate within the Democratic Society Party (DTP) supported Thousand Hopes alliance in the 2007 parliamentary election in Turkey and became an MP for Diyarbakır. During the campaign, she was quoted as saying, "This election is important because Turkey is at a crossroads. Either it is going to opt for developing democratic alternatives or will bring the oppressive policies back on to the agenda. We are hoping for the democratic forces to come out of these elections much stronger and help to establish the options of democracy dialog and peace. We'll search for solutions not in violence, but in parliament." At the beginning of 2009, it was reported that she had prepared a bill to enable the

Kurdish language Kurdish (, , ) is a Northwestern Iranian languages, Northwestern Iranian language or dialect continuum, group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in southeast Turkish Kurdistan, Turkey, northern Iraqi Kurdistan, Ira ...

to be used in the public space. For the Parliamentary Elections in 2011 she was elected as an independent candidate from southeastern Siirt province. In the Municipal elections in March 2014, she was elected as a first female Head of Municipality of

. In view of the detentions of several mayors from the

Democratic Regions Party The Democratic Regions Party (, DBP, , PHD) is a Kurdish political party in the Republic of Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called Ea ...

(DBP) over self-government claims, she defended them alleging self-governance is a political aim and also demanded self-governance. On October 25, 2016, she was detained together with co-mayor Fırat Anlı which led almost one hundred

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and LGTB rights organizations to demand her release.

Legal Prosecution and Imprisonment

According to her own account, Kisanak was imprisoned for years before she was arrested again. Her renewed detention in October 2015 was on "charges of being a member 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)". Following the two co-mayors' arrest, the Turkish government ordered a general internet blackout. Nevertheless, on October 26, several thousand demonstrators at Diyarbakir City Hall demanded the mayors' release. In November, public prosecutors demanded a 230-year prison sentence for Kışanak. In February 2019 she was sentenced to 14 years and 3 months in prison for "being a member of a terrorist organization" and for "propaganda of a terrorist organization". While in prison, she compiled essays by herself and other imprisoned Kurdish women politicians into the book ''The Purple Color of Kurdish Politics''. She is detained in the F-Type prison in Kandira, Kocaeli. She was released on 16 May 2024.

Personal life

She grew up in a household of an

Alevi Alevism (; ; ) is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams, whilst incorporating some traditions from shamanism. Differing ...

faith. She is married and has a daughter.

Movies

She was featured in the 2008 film ''What a Beautiful Democracy,'' about the struggle of Turkish women running for parliament. She was also interviewed for the movie ''Hevî'' by Yüksel Yavuz. Her daughter discusses her imprisonment in the 2023 film ''Tearing Walls Down ''by Şerif Çiçek and Hebûn Polat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kisanak, Gultan 1961 births People from Elazığ Living people 21st-century mayors of places in Turkey 21st-century Turkish journalists 21st-century Turkish women journalists Women mayors of places in Turkey Turkish Kurdish politicians Deputies of Siirt Democratic Regions Party politicians Deputies of Diyarbakır Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Mayors of Diyarbakır People expelled from public office Turkish prisoners and detainees 21st-century Turkish writers 21st-century Turkish women writers 21st-century Turkish women politicians 21st-century Kurdish writers Kurdish women writers Kurdish Alevis Kurdish journalists Kurdish women journalists Kurdish women in politics Kurdish politicians