Siyaset ve kadın kimliği: Leyla Zana
Özet
Leyla Zana is the first Kurdish woman member of Turkish Parliament. The details of her personal life show thatshe had to struggle as a woman and achieved at the end. Although she didn?t know Turkish and failed to finnishprimary school, she managed to get both primary and high school degrees after nineteen and learnt Turkish.We can accept the ten years of time, when Mehdi Zana -whom Leyla Zana married when she was a child-woman- was behind bars becouse of political crime, as a turning point in Leyla Zana?s life. As a wife and as amother with lots of women who shared the same faith, she experienced her first political activities in front ofprisons. During this period under the effect of Kurdish movement against military regime, Leyla Zana definedher political attitude up to her ethnic identitiy.We can define the steps of Leyla Zana?s ?symbolic? value in Kurdish movement as if: After 1980 PKK which isthe political actor of Kurdish movement, tried to announce the ?presence? and the ?grievance? of Kurds and alsothe ?legitimation? of its struggle. Leyla Zana?s speech in Kurdish in Turkish Parliament as a member and herconviction after this speech and her recognition in West as ?freedom symbol? all refers the steps we have justpointed out above.Leyla Zana, by herself, brings up her political identity in ?peace? framework. This preferance can be assesed as away of aprroving the idealized patriarcal imagination which indicates woman as a passive victim and someone inneed of help. By this way Leyla Zana determines the discussions about her leadership in Kurdish movement.On the other hand, the ?invitation? way of women to the Kurdish movement determines the preferance of LeylaZana. As a woman the value of Leyla Zana had been functional for Kurdish movement when she helped toannounce the ?grievance? of Kurds, but now the issue is about political government which means ?power? andalways keeps women out.