The indefinite, rotating hunger strike launched by political prisoners in Turkey – to protest against the prison isolation conditions of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan as well as the violations of prisoners’ rights more generally – has reached its 159th day.
The 32nd group of strikers are currently participating in the action, which was launched on 27 November last year in Turkey’s prisons.
Elsewhere, in Iraq and Greece, hunger strikes were launched in support of the prison hunger strike in Turkey.
A hunger strike that was launched in the Lavrio Camp in Greece is now on its 121st day. The hunger strike in the camp is led by the Revolutionary Youth Movement, the Kurdish Women’s Movement in Europe (TJK-E) and the Kurdish Cultural Centre.
Another hunger strike launched on 18 December in Makhmour Refugee Camp in Iraqi Kurdistan has now reached its 138th day.
The 69th group of hunger striking refugees, who took over the rotating hunger strike on Monday, issued a statement on the first day of their action regarding the ongoing Turkish air-and-ground campaign in northern Iraq.
Speaking on behalf of the hunger striking refugees, İsmail Kara shared his criticism of the Turkey’s cross-border operation. “The purpose of these operations is to annihilate and deny the Kurds, but when we look back at history, we see that such military operations have always been inconclusive,” Kara said.
He added: “The resistance of the Kurds has tried to be broken down with military operations. With the philosophy of Leader Apo [he refers to Abdullah Öcalan] such plans remained inconclusive. Tens of military operations remained inconclusive. We have to stand by our guerilla in the face of such attacks and resist all together.”
