Nilüfer Elik Yılmaz (born 1962,

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 ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) 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 and a former member of 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) and Mayor of Kiziltepe for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Education

Nilüfer Elik Yılmaz received her primary and secondary education and attended high school in Kiziltepe. Following, she began to study economics at the

Anadolu University Anadolu University () is a public university in Eskişehir, Turkey. Anadolu University Distance Education Faculty (or Anadolu University Global Campus) serves as the national provider of distance education and is a member of the European Associ ...

in Eskisehir, but did not graduate.

Political career

She was a member of the women's assembly of the BDP. Additionally she took a seat in the disciplinary council of the parties Madrid branch. In the local elections in March 2019, she was elected as a mayor of Kiziltepe for the HDP with more than 70% of the voter-share. During her tenure, the municipality supported the local football club. She was dismissed from office in November 2019 on grounds of her activities in the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) which was viewed as an indication of a membership in the forbidden

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). The ministry of the interior replaced her with the state appointed trustee Hüseyin Cam, who assumed as an acting mayor in her stead. The same months, she was arrested and imprisoned in prison in Mardin. Later she was transferred into a prison in Tarsus. On the 17 March 2021, the state prosecutor

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 ...

demanded for her and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to a political activity together with a closure of the HDP due to organizational links with the PKK.{{Cite web, date=17 March 2021, title=HDP indictment seeks political ban for 687 members, including Demirtaş, Buldan and Sancar, url=https://bianet.org/english/politics/241005-hdp-indictment-seeks-political-ban-for-687-members-including-demirtas-buldan-and-sancar, website=

Bianet Bianet (acronym for ) is an Independent news agency based in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Focused on human rights in Turkey it is mainly funded by a Swedish organization. Bianet was established in January 2000 by journalists around , former representative ...

References

1962 births Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians Women mayors of places in Turkey 21st-century Turkish women politicians Living people