Jailed Kobane trail defendant Sebahat Tuncel, former co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), on Monday declared a three-day hunger strike in Turkish prisons, during the 31st hearing of the high profile case against 108 Kurdish politicians.
The action is set to protest the lack of medical release for critically ill prisoners in Turkey, such as Şakir Turan, who recently died of throat cancer. “In prisons, 81 people have lost their lives, and we will carry out a three-day hunger strike,” Tuncel said.
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The Kobane trial concerns protests in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, that flared between 6-8 October 2014 in response to the Turkish government’s perceived inaction during the ISIS siege on Kobane, a Kurdish-populated area in northern Syria. The defendants face an indictment of inciting violence and contributing to the protest death toll. The opposition widely view the case as a calculated move to stifle the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the broader Kurdish political movement in Turkey.
During the hearing, defendant Ayla Akat Ata characterised the case as retaliatory action against a 2013 peace initiative towards resolution of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. “We are the facilitators of this [peace] process and stand before you [for this],” she stated.
HDP’s Law and Human Rights Commission chair, Nuray Özdoğan, brought the court’s attention to the public scrutiny of the case, highlighting a petition signed by 193 intellectuals in support of the Kobane trial defendants. “This case is not limited to the courtroom,” said Özdoğan.
