KT News:

Leyla Güven, the renowned MP for the HDP (People’s Democracy Party), finally took her place in the Turkish Assembly yesterday, more than a year after her election.

The MP for Hakkari, who is also co-chair of the DTK (Democratic Society Congress) was elected in last year’s June 24 elections although she was in jail at the time, having been arrested in January after she denounced the Turkish invasion of the mainly-Kurdish province of Afrin in Rojava / northern Syria.

In October Leyla began a hunger strike demanding an end to the isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan who is serving a life sentence on Imrali island. After 79 days, the authorities released her from prison, but she continued the hunger strike from her home where she was visited by political figures and human rights campaigners from around the world. In May, Leyla ended her fast after 200 days, following a request by Abdullah Ocalan conveyed to her through his lawyers who he’d been allowed to meet for the first time in more than seven years.