The International League for Human Rights (ILHR) has been giving an award in the name of German journalist, writer and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky since 1962. The institution awards the medal to individuals who are engaged in civilian society and human rights.

The League issued a written statement and announced that the 2018 Medal was awarded to Cizre Co-mayor Leyla Imret and human rights defender Ottmar Miles Paul. The League mentioned that Imret used to live in Germany and was elected as the Cizre Co-mayor in the 2014 elections. The statement also said the following:

“Imret was elected with 83% of the vote. She strived to develop Cizre again after the heavy toll of the war, and to ensure equality in the city. Following the 2015 parliamentary elections, the Turkish-Kurdish conflict flared up again and a curfew was declared in Cizre. Imret was later removed from office and investigations were launched against her, at which point she was forced to return to Germany.

In the international court held in Paris in 2018, she spoke about the Turkish state’s war crimes and human rights violations in Cizre. She fought to return to her office as the Mayor of Cizre in exile. She advocates a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey, and continues her work to that end.”

The Medal will be handed to the winners in a ceremony in Berlin to be held on December 16. The ILHR had awarded the Carl von Ossietzky Medal to the SOS-Mediterranee project that aims to rescue refugees from the sea and photographer Kai Wiedenhöfer in 2016. In 2014, whistleblower Edward Snowden, director Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald were awarded the Medal.