Zeynel Abidin Kizilyaprak

Zeynel Abidin Kızılyaprak (born 1960 in Adiyaman, Turkey) is widely regarded as one of the most prominent Kurdish public intellectuals, essayists, and journalists of his generation. Throughout his career, Kızılyaprak has faced repeated political persecution, imprisonment, and torture in Turkey as a result of his literary and journalistic work-his life marked by a constant movement between prison, underground existence, and prolific writing, earning him international recognition for his commitment to human rights and freedom of expression.

Trained as a teacher, Kızılyaprak was barred from the profession for political reasons. Following the 1980 military coup, he was arrested for publishing critical essays and articles and spent five and a half years in prison, including time in the notorious PIRIN detention center. After his release, he moved to Istanbul, where he worked as a journalist and founded the publishing house PELE SOR. His publishing activities-including the release of the book The Memoirs of a Soldier, which documented military abuses in southeastern Turkey-led to further prosecutions and imprisonment. His historical chronicle, The Kurds from 1900 to 2000, resulted in yet another prison sentence.

In the 1990s, Kızılyaprak served on the board of the pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP), co-founded the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), and helped establish the Kurdish News Agency. He is a member of the Human Rights Association (IHD), the German Media Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.

With the support of International PEN, Kızılyaprak was able to leave Turkey for Germany in 2003, where he received fellowships from the Heinrich Böll Foundation, IHAG, and the Hamburg Foundation for Politically Persecuted People. In 2004, he was honored with the Hellman/Hammett Award from Human Rights Watch and was named an honorary member of the British, Swedish, and Canadian PEN centers.

Kızılyaprak is also the founder and board member of Kürt-Kav, the Research Foundation for Kurdish Culture, established in Istanbul in 1996, where he continues to champion the preservation and study of Kurdish culture. After years in exile, he now lives in Istanbul, working on new book projects and publishing regularly on social and political issues. His work appears in international media and academic volumes, and he remains active as a contributor to the International Correspondents Media Network in Berlin.