ALDE pay tribute to Leyla Zana

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 14th Oct 2004

Leyla Zana: freedom an important and necessary sign of change.

Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Graham Watson MEP (Liberal Democrat, UK) has paid tribute to Kurdish campaigner and politician Leyla Zana, who will receive the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize today, nine years after it was awarded to her in 1995. In 1995 Ms Zana was a political prisoner in Turkey. She was released on appeal in June 2004. Mr Watson called the day "a belated tribute to a woman who defended liberty of thought even at the price of her own freedom."

Mr Watson said:

"Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament campaigned on behalf of Leyla Zana and supported her nomination for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. When Ms Zana was awarded the prize she was a prisoner of conscience in a Turkish prison. Today we welcome her freedom, and we welcome this chance to finally honour her work as a Kurdish campaigner and politician."

"The ALDE is committed to close engagement with the Turkish government and Turkish civil society on the proper protection of civil and political freedoms in the new Turkey. As a peaceful campaigner for minority rights, Ms Zana's message has a place in any free and tolerant society. If her imprisonment was a regrettable symbol of the old Turkey, her freedom is an important and necessary sign of change."