Born 1961 in the West Anatolian town of Salihli, Kadriye Karcı came to the GDR in 1985 as a member of the illegal Communist Party of Turkey. She spent her first six months in the country together with her party comrades in Wismar, where she completed a German language course. She was then given the opportunity to study in the GDR. Studying her subject of choice, journalism at Leipzig University, was not an option. Despite living under her actual name in the GDR, life was governed by conditions of illegality, and she was unable to live in Leipzig. Karcı chose to study philosophy and took an intensive course in Marxist and Leninist terminology in Greifswald in preparation for university. Between 1986 and 1991 she studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin. It was 1991 before she was allowed to travel to Turkey.
\nKadriye Karcı remained politically active after unification. She is currently a member of Die Linke parliamentary group in the Mitte district council in Berlin.
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