Mehdi Zana is a former Turkish politician of Kurdish origin. Zana started to work as a tailor in Silvan after he graduated from elementary school. In 1963 he became a member of Workers Party of Turkey (TİP). Two years later he became the head of the party's Silvan branch. In 1978 he was elected as the first independent socialist mayor of Diyarbakır. After 1980 Turkish coup d'état, he was imprisoned in the Military Prison of Diyarbakır. He was incarcerated for 16 years. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Mehdi Zana. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Zana
