Speaking to Hawar News Agency, the family members of hunger striking prisoners in Turkey appealed for international solidarity.It has been 49 days since Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey launched a hunger strike to demand an end to the isolation imposed upon the Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The family members of the hunger striking prisoners expressed their concerns regarding the health of their loved ones in prisons.
One of those concerned family members is Mihemed Reşid. Reşid was also imprisoned in 2007 and now his cousin is in prison and on hunger strike. “The prisoners who launched the hunger strike are victims of false allegations by the Turkish state authorities with no solid grounds for imprisonment in the first place. They are now punished because of their hunger strike action. There are no legal procedures in prisons and the authorities act against the law. So many prisoners have stood up against this,” he said.
Emel Mihemed, the sister of political prisoner Sefqan Çiya, also called for international solidarity to give a voice to those protesting against the torture in prisons. “My brother used to tell that he would rather die than to accept the torture. We want the unjust system in prisons to be lifted. The International community should see the crimes being committed by the Turkish state,” Mihemed stated.
Speaking finally, Cegerxwin Eliko, the brother of another political prisoner, said that his brother has been imprisoned for 8 years and that the only grounds for his imprisonment was his political activities to support the Kurdish freedom struggle. Eliko called upon the international public opinion to protest against violations of human rights committed by the Turkish state.