An indefinite hunger strike in Turkish prisons is on its third day.
Prisoners announced the beginning of the hunger strike via weekly phone calls with their families. Each prisoner will take turns to go on a five-day hunger strike until their demands are met.
Former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Çağlar Demirel, who is imprisoned in the Kocaeli Kandıra F-type High Security Prison, launched the hunger strike.
Demirel announced her decision to the public via a weekly phone call with her mother Gülperi Demirel.
Stating that arbitrary mistreatment was mounting in prisons, Demirel said, “We, together with another prisoner, Seher Oruç, launch a hunger strike against antidemocratic implementations, isolation, violations of rights, soaring political genocide operations and terrorisation”.
Prisoners Sertaç Kılıçarslan, Ozan Alpkaya and Abdullah Güney announced that they launched a five-day hunger strike in İzmir Kırıklar F-type Closed Prison.
Kılıçarslan made a statement via his family and said the hunger strike would continue until their demands are met.
Imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) members also announced that they launched an indefinite hunger strike on 27 November, to protest the isolation of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.
They said in a statement: As,imprisoned members of PKK and PAJK, we state that we will play our role actively for the resistance campaign “Break the isolation, Destroy fascism, Liberate Kurdistan” until the the isolation and torture system imposed in the İmralı prison is removed, and freedom is achieved”.
According to Yeni Yaşam’s report, prison security raided the wards of prisoners who were staging hunger strikes in the Kandıra No:1 F-type High Security Prison on 29 November. The wards were searched and all written materials were seized. It was reported that the raids were carried out after imprisoned former HDP deputy Demirel announced the decision to begin a hunger strike.
In addition, it was reported that the wards of former HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ, former Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Sebahat Tuncel, former Diyarbakır Municipality co-chair Gültan Kışanak, and many other Kurdish politicians were raided. During the raids, books, notes and poems were seized.
