She began studying at the Faculty of Education of Dicle University in 1978 but was arrested in 1980 and was imprisoned in the Diyarbakir Prison for two years. According to her own account, she had to stay in the dog kennel of the prison warden for two months because she refused to stand up in his presence. She began studying journalism at Ege University, Izmir, in 1986. On the 16 March 1988 she was arrested while protesting Saddam Hussein's attack on Halabja. She was released one year later. After her release, she graduated in 1990.
Journalistic career
From 1990 to 1992 she wrote for the newspaper Yeni Ülke. Afterwards she worked as an editor in chief, an editorial coordinator or news director in a variety of newspapers from 1990 to 2004.
Political career
In 2004, she became a social policy consultant in the Baĝlar Municipality in Diyarbakir. She has been involved in the Kardelen Women’s House in Diyarbakır. She stood successfully as an independent candidate within the DTP supported Thousand Hopes alliance in the 2007 parliamentary election in Turkey and became an MP for Diyarbakır. During the campaign she was quoted as saying, "This election is important because Turkey is at a crossroads. Either it is going to opt for developing democratic alternatives or will bring the oppressive policies back on to the agenda. We are hoping for the democratic forces to come out of these elections much stronger and help to establish the options of democracy dialog and peace. We'll search for solutions not in violence, but in parliament." In the beginning of 2009 it was reported that she had prepared a bill to enable the Kurdish language to be used in the public space. For the Parliamentary Elections in 2011 she was elected as an independent candidate from southeastern Siirt province. In 2014 she was elected Mayor of Diyarbakır. On 25 October 2016 she was detained by Turkish authorities, as was co-mayor Fırat Anlı, "on thinly supported charges of being a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party ". The Turkish government ordered a general internet blackout after the arrest. Nevertheless, on 26 October, several thousand demonstrators at Diyarbakir city hall demanded the mayors’ release. In November, public prosecutors demanded a 230-year prison sentence for Kışanak. In February 2019 she was sentenced to 14 years and 3 months in prison for "being a member of a terrorist organization" and for "propaganda of a terrorist organization". In prison, she took up writing again, and the wrote the book The Color Purple of Kurdish Politics about women in politics.
Movies
She was featured in the 2008 film “What a beautiful democracy” about the struggle of Turkish women running for parliament. She was also interviewed for the movie Hevî of Yüksel Yavuz.
