Rezan Zuğurlu was mayor of the Turkish district of Lice in Diyarbakır Province. She is a member of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
Rezan Zuğurlu | |
|---|---|
| Former Mayor of Lice | |
| In office April 2014 – February 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Fikriye Aydın |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1988 or 1989 (age 35–36)[1] |
| Political party | Peace and Democracy Party |
| Occupation | Student |
Personal life
editZuğurlu was born into a family of Kurdish activists and grew up in southeastern Turkey during an armed uprising for political rights among the Kurdish people. She considers herself a feminist and hopes her position as mayor would help better the lives of women in the district. She stated that she gets a feeling of solidarity with Berivan Elif Kiliç, Mayor of the town of Kocakoy, who was married off at the age of 15 into an abusive household, as well as Gultan Kisanak, female mayor of Diyarbakir. She was a student of Radio and Television Broadcasting and attended night-school after her day's work.[1]
Prosecution
editAt the age of 22, Zuğurlu was accused of having protested in solidarity with several Kurdish prisoners which resulted in her getting arrested and sentenced to a 4 years 2 months prison term, of which she spent 13 months in pretrial detention.[2] The judges reasoned that her nose and mouth profile would match the one of a protester identified as the one who threw stones towards Turkish authorities.[3] She was released due to an appeal[2] and two years after being released from prison, in March 2014, she ran for public office, for the post of mayor.
Political career
editAt the age of 25, she became the youngest mayor in Turkey,[1] winning nearly 90% of the votes in the local elections in March 2014[4] and assumed office in April 2014,[5] Zuğurlu was among several female mayor candidates fielded by the party at that time, which also included 27-year-old Leyla İmret, who was elected as in Cizre, in Şırnak province.[5] In February 2017 she was dismissed as mayor and a trustee was appointed instead.[2] On 17 August 2017, she was arrested due to the anterior sentence that came into effect.[2] In September she was transferred from Diyarbakır E Type Prison to the Van T Type Prison.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Meet Turkey's Youngest Mayor, A 25-Year-Old Female Former Political Prisoner". Lice. Huffington Post. 11 April 2014. Retrieved Apr 12, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Khalidi, Ali (18 August 2017). "Youngest Kurdish mayor jailed in Turkey". Kurdistan24. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
- ^ "Turkey's Youngest Mayor Slams 'Ridiculous' Jail Term". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ^ "Diyarbakır Lice BDP belediye başkanı Rezan Zuğurli kimdir" (in Turkish). Kirikhan Haber. 1 April 2014. Retrieved Apr 12, 2014.
- ^ a b "Southeastern town elects 27-year-old female candidate for mayor". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved Apr 12, 2014.
- ^ SCF (2017-09-11). "Turkish gov't transfers Lice co-mayor Zuğurli from Diyarbakır Prison to Van Prison with her 1-year-old sick son". Stockholm Center for Freedom. Retrieved 2019-11-17.