Nine MPs of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including former HDP Co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, were arrested on November 4, 2016. They were stripped of their parliamentary immunity by the votes of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and Republican People's Party (CHP). Investigations were launched against Figen Yüksekdağ for her statements and speeches. On 21 February 2017, the parliament revoked her parliamentary membership. Stating that the Kurdish question could be solved by people, Figen Yüksekdağ demanded that the negotiation process should gain legal status.

She began to engage in political activities at high school

Figen Yüksekdağ was born in 1971 as the ninth of ten children in a rural household in the Yumurtalık district of Adana province. She went to elementary school in Yumurtalık. She graduated from Adana Ceyhan High School. During her time in high school, she began to engage in political activities. When she was 21 years old, she was arrested in 1992 after attending an International Workers' Day demonstration in Adana. She spent a year in prison. While studying at the high school, she was among the founders of the High School Students’ Union, High School Working Women's Union, and Democratic High School Students’ Union.

During that time, she wrote articles for Özgür Genç, Atılım and Sosyalist Kadın magazines as columnist and editor. She was among the founders of University Students’ Associations. In 1998, she became an editorial board member of Atılım newspaper.

First president of ESP

In 2002, the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) began its political activities. She became ESP’s independent candidate for the Adana electoral district in the 2002 general election. In 2004, she became the spokesperson of the ESP. On September 21, 2006, she was arrested again. She was held in Gebze Prison for a year. After being released from prison, she began to work to found the Laboring Women's Association (Emekçi Kadınlar Derneği). During that time, she also worked as the editor of the Socialist Woman magazine. In 2009, she was arrested again for attending the funeral of Kutsiye Bozoklar. She was released from prison after being held in prison for six months. In 2010, she was elected as the first president of the ESP.

She was elected as co-chair of the HDP

Figen Yüksekdağ was among the founding members of the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK), which was founded on October 15, 2011. After the foundation of the HDK and serving as the president of the ESP, she joined the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), with which the ESP merged later the same year. On June 22, 2014, she was elected the co-leader of the HDP together with Selahattin Demirtaş. She was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) on June 7, 2015.

Her parliamentary membership revoked

Many investigations were launched against Figen Yüksekdağ. She was stripped of parliamentary immunity in May 2016. She was arrested on November 4, 2016, over a terror-related investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. On February 21, 2017, the parliament revoked her parliamentary membership and on March 9, 2017, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled she was no longer a member of the HDP. She has been held in the Kocaeli F-Type Prison as a “political hostage” since 2016. But she continues to tell the truth from the prison.