"South by south-east
Pro-Kurdish candidates for election are likely to do well in Turkey’s south-east
Apr 14th 2011 | BATMAN AND DIYARBAKIR | from the print edition
The Kurds are sticking to their own
LEYLA ZANA, a popular Kurdish politician, once declared: “I no longer believe in the Turkish parliament. I will not run again.” In 1991 she won a seat in the mainly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir, in south-east Turkey. Three years later she was stripped of her parliamentary immunity and sentenced to 15 years in prison for belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group of armed insurgents. Her biggest crime was to accompany her oath with a short speech in Kurdish. No matter that she called for brotherhood between Turks and Kurds; she spent ten years inside."
More:Turkey and its Kurds: South by south-east | The Economist
