Leyla Birlik

By Julie Ward, MEP:

Leyla Birlik is one of 10 HDP deputies who have been imprisoned by the Turkish state in the last 3 weeks following the brutal crackdown on political opposition. Leyla is a democratically elected MP representing Sirnak in Southern Turkey. She was elected on November 1st 2015 when HDP won 59 seats exceeding the necessary threshold to enter the Turkish parliament.

I am a Member of the European Parliament from the British Labour Party, representing the North West of England, including the metropolitan areas of Manchester and Liverpool. I am participating in an international solidarity project whereby elected politicians choose to befriend and support the HDP deputies under investigation and imprisoned during the ongoing ‘state of emergency’ whereby increasingly draconian measures are apparent.

Leyla Birlik was born in Mardin in 1974 and before becoming elected to the national parliament she was the chair of the City Council of Sirnak. Leyla is married with one teenage son who suffers multiple health problems. Both Leyla and her son suffer from the liver disease Hepatitis B.

Leyla is an artist and this is one of the reasons I wanted to make this political twinning specifically with her. Before entering politics I worked as a poet and theatre-maker, using arts and culture as a tool for social change.

Leyla has 14 lawsuits against her. She was arrested in the early hours of November 5th whilst visiting a colleague in Midyat. The arrest was physically violent and she was dragged into a police vehicle and interrogated by anti-terrorist forces without any contact with lawyers. For two days none of Leyla’s family members or staff members knew where she was. She was brought to Silivri prison near Istanbul and imprisoned along with two other female HDP deputies. Although some contact between the women has been allowed they are currently in solitary confinement in a wing reserved for political prisoners.