İmret was elected as the Co-Mayor of Cizre for the Peace and Democracy Party ( BDP ) in March 2014 , receiving 83 % of the vote , a record for Turkish elections . Aged 27 , she was the first female mayor of Cizre and the youngest mayor in Turkey . The BDP had a 40 % quota for female representation and introduced a co-candidate system , where an elected leader and deputy would take equal roles and work together , which saw an increase in the numbers of women elected to district and municipal leadership . İmret was one of a number of women elected to a mayoral position across the country , and pledged to prioritise women 's issues . She said , " It gives women courage to see me as mayor . More women and youth will get involved in politics . " She planned to help create a normal life for the community , building parks and playgrounds and " giving children a chance to have the childhood she never had . " Although İmret 's mother was skeptical and worried about her daughter 's political involvement , things went well at first . However , in July 2015 , local Kurds blamed security forces for " laxity or collusion " regarding a suicide bombing in Suruç and the Kurdistan Workers ' Party ( PKK ) was accused of killing two police officers in retaliation . In response , Turkish airstrikes killed 33 pro-Kurdish activists , with the PKK viewed by both Turkey and the US as a terrorist organization due to its history of attacks on civilian and military targets . Cizre was subject to sustained airstrikes and a curfew was declared . At the time , İmret was reported as saying , " There 's a saying , ' if there 's peace , it will start from Cizre , and if there 's war , it will start from here as well . ' And we can say we have a civil war in Turkey . " In the June 2015 parliamentary elections , Cizre 's mostly Kurdish residents had voted for the BDP 's successor People 's Democratic Party ( HDP ) by an 84 % majority , and many saw the siege as retaliation for not voting for the Justice and Development Party ( AKP ) . The government claimed the HDP was linked to the PKK . İmret said , " The main difference between the HDP and the PKK is that the former is a political party aiming to participate in the electoral process at the national level ... In Cizre , there is a strong support for the PKK , but the population wants the conflict to end . Nobody wants the situation of war from the 90s to start again . The HDP offers this perspective of peace . " She accused the government of using repressive measures to muzzle political opponents . In August , İmret told media sources that police and soldiers had killed five people , including two children , with soldiers and police forces acting at an alarming degree that went beyond emergency rule
suicide bombing
2015 Suruç bombing
Leyla İmret