Gültan Kışanak

Who is Gültan Kışanak?

Gültan Kışanak is a Kurdish Zaza politician of the Peace and Democracy Party in Turkey.

Studying journalism at Ege University, Izmir, she worked as a journalist for various newspapers. She has been Project Consultant in Diyarbakır and Municipal Coordinator for many projects. She is married with one child.

She stood successfully as an independent in the 2007 parliamentary elections in Turkey and is now an MP for Diyarbakır. During the campaign she was quoted as saying "This election is important because Turkey is at the crossroads. Either it is going to opt for developing democratic alternatives or will bring the oppressive policies back on to the agenda. We are hoping for the democratic forces to come out of these elections much stronger and help to establish the options of democracy dialog and peace. We'll search for solutions not in violence, but in parliament."

She featured in the 2008 film “What a beautiful democracy” about the struggle of Turkish women running for parliament.

At the beginning of 2009, she was reported to have prepared a bill to enable the Kurdish language to be used in the public space.