Portrait of the day: Gurbetelli Ersöz
Gurbetelli Ersöz was Turkey’s first female editor-in-chief. She was born in the Akbulut village of Elazığ’s Palu district. When she was born, her father was a worker in Germany and that’s why she was named Gurbetelli (foreign place). When she was a third-grade student at primary school, her difference with her friends and teachers was her language. She began to ask why, how at that time. She studied chemistry at Çukurova University. Later she worked as an assistant at the Çukurova University. She began to get involved actively in politics
Gurbetelli Ersöz then became a journalist and she was detained on December 10, 1990. She was kept in detention for 15 days and tortured. After being kept in detention for 15 days, she was sent to Malatya Prison and held in prison for two years. After being released, she kept doing journalism. On April 23, 1993, she began to work for Özgür Gündem Newspaper. Then, she became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and became Turkey’s first female editor-in-chief.
On December 10, 1993, the building of the newspaper was raided by hundreds of police. Gurbetelli Ersöz was one of the detained journalists. After being kept in detention for 13 days, she was sent to Sağmalcılar Prison. She was released from the prison when the first hearing of the trial opened against her was held in June 1994. She kept working as a journalist for a while but then she decided to wage her struggle in another field. She joined the armed struggle. On October 8, 1997, she was killed in a clash with the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).