Leyla Birlik
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Leyla Birlik | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Birlik in 2018 | |
| Member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly for Şırnak | |
| In office 7 June 2015 – 1 November 2015 | |
| In office 1 November 2015 – 24 June 2018 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 3, 1974 |
| Citizenship | Turkish |
| Party | Peoples' Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Mehmet Birlik |
| Children | 1 |
| Profession | politician |
| Committees | Women Committee, Kurdistan National Congress |
Leyla Birlik (born 3 March 1974, Derik, Mardin[1]) is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.[2] She is currently a member of the executive council[3] and the head of the Women Committee in the Kurdistan National Congress.[4]
Legal prosecution
Before she became a Member of Parliament she served as the president of the local council in Şırnak.[1] Birlik was elected to the Turkish parliament in the general elections in June 2015[5] and re-elected in the snap elections of November 2015 both times representing Şırnak for the HDP.[6]
She was arrested on the 4 November 2016 together with fellow HDP MPs Nursel Aydoğan, Selahattin Demirtaş, İdris Baluken, Figen Yüksekdag and Gülser Yildirim.[7] She was charged with having insulted the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a speech she held in 2015[8] or having attended the funeral of her brother in law, who the prosecution sees as a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[9] European parliamentarians from Austria around Peter Pilz, were not allowed to visit her at the time by the Turkish authorities.[10] She was released pending trial on the 4 January 2017.[11][12] The same court also issued also a prohibition on travels abroad. In January 2018 she was sentenced to 1 year and 9 months imprisonment for insulting the president. She appealed the verdict.[8]