ATUC Secretary, Fiona Napier, is calling for action in support of the Kurdish men and women on indefinite hunger strike, all with the same single demand –
for Turkey to end the isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan,
incarcerated for the last 20 years in a Turkish prison on the island of İmralı.
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The hunger strikers in
Strasbourg: Kurdish Democratic Society Congress-Europe co-chair Yüksel Koç, HDP
Urfa former MP Dilek Öcalan, Kurdish politician Mustafa Sarıkaya and journalist
Gülistan Çiya İke, Nurgül Başaran, Ramazan İmir, Mehmet Nimet Sevim, Mohamad
Ghaderi, Denis Durgut, Ayvaz Ece, Kardo Bokani, Kerem Solhan, Agit Ural and
Ekrem Yılmaz.(Photo courtesy of ANF News)
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On 23rd January, Fiona, along with Sarah Glynn (Scottish Solidarity
with Kurdistan)
travelled to Strasbourg with messages of solidarity for the 14 Kurdish men and
women currently in week six of a hunger strike calling for an end to Ocalan's isolation.
Originally sentenced to death in 1999, Öcalan
had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment when Turkey abolished the death
penalty as part of its bid to be admitted to membership of the European Union.
Since 1999, he has been held on İmralı, frequently in isolation and routinely
denied family visits and access to his lawyer. This isolation has intensified
over the past decade, and Öcalan has not been allowed to see his lawyer since 2011.
These are conditions that contravene both Turkey’s own constitution, and the
European Convention on Human Rights.
The current mass hunger strike began on November 7th,
2018, when Leyla Güven (a Turkish MP imprisoned in January 2018 following her
vocal criticism of the Turkish invasion of Afrin) announced the start of her
hunger strike in court, during the third hearing of her case.
Since then, over 240 prisoners have joined the action across
59 Turkish jails, along with non-prisoner actions around the world, including
Canada and Wales. More are joining
the mass action each week. In response to the growing hunger strike – and
Leyla’s deteriorating health - Turkish authorities released her from prison ,
but she is continuing
her action. Also in response to the current hunger strike, Öcalan’s
brother was allowed a brief
visit earlier this month, but the Turkish authorities are still preventing
his lawyer from seeing him.
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Fiona Napier from Aberdeen
Trades Union Council
and Sarah Glynn from Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan
with Gülistan Çiya İke and Kardo
Bokani.
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The Kurdish hunger strikers in Strasbourg are now on Day 44
without food. They began their action on 17th December with the
following statement;
“With the isolation of
the Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, the war policy of the Turkish
dictator Erdoğan and the fascist AKP / MHP government is further aggravated.
While the entire democratic and revolutionary opposition is subjected to
ruthless repression, Imrali’s isolation system is being extended to the entire
country and the Middle East.
"We have to break the
isolation on Imrali. This is necessary to ensure the development of freedom and
democracy in Turkey, to stop the massacres of the Erdoğan regime in Kurdistan,
to promote freedom and equality between peoples and to solve all existing
problems through dialogue. We salute Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair
Leyla Güven. The hunger strikes taking place inside and outside the prisons
have already created publicity, but the CPT (Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) and other
institutions are yet to break their silence on the situation of Abdullah Öcalan.
"We have to break the
isolation in order for the freedom of peoples of Kurdistan and Turkey to be
achieved, and in order for war to stop. This is a process that requires a price
and sacrifice. For this reason, we are going on an indefinite and non-alternate
hunger strike”.
The hunger strikers specifically chose to base themselves in
Strasbourg – home of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human
Rights. They are targeting these European institutions, calling on them to hold
Turkey – also a member of the Council of Europe - to account, and are urging
the international community to do the same.
The hunger strike is happening in a Kurdish Community Centre
in Strasbourg, on Rue de Broque. A massive effort went into preparing the space
in advance of the start of the action, with only a few days to get the
centre ready. The accommodation space comprises 2 sleeping/ rest areas (one
male and one female), a kitchen area (for preparing the salt/sugar/vitamin B drink
they are taking to maintain brain function) and a bathroom. This space is not
open to visitors and provides a private area where those refusing food can rest
as often as they need to (increasingly often as time goes on) and receive
medical examinations. In addition, there is a reception area for guests, which
includes a press/ communications room which is used for receiving delegations,
filming interviews, skyping interviews and posting updates online. This area is
a hub of constant activity, with a constant stream of visitors – family,
friends, solidarity delegations, politicians and press – joining the 14 hunger
strikers (identified by the white tabards bearing the face of Ocalan that they
all wear).
The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming, and everyone who enters
is greeted with smiles and handshakes. The hunger strikers themselves come and
go between the private and public areas depending on how they are feeling and
the demands for radio, TV and face-to-face interviews, plus welcoming
solidarity visits and delegations. Backgammon is popular, and local musicians
also visit to keep spirits up – we were laughingly told that they were still
dancing on Day 28.
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| Principled, committed and determined |
It was a privilege to meet these 14 principled, committed,
determined individuals, and to spend a few days in the amazingly welcoming and
supportive community that has gathered between and around them. In truth it was
a sometimes a surreal experience, to be casually chatting with people whose
company you are enjoying, then remembering that they are, in effect, preparing
to die. Not everyone may agree with – or be able to comprehend - taking such
extreme action, but as the Strasbourg hunger strikers pointed out, they have
tried every other avenue open to them, and it has achieved nothing for the
Kurdish cause, or Öcalan. That is a statement of fact, and one that should
spur all of us on to action. While there, we filmed several interviews with two
of those on hunger striker - Kardo Bokanî and Dilek Öcalan (Abdullah Öcalan’s)
niece, who has been a Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP in Turkey since 2015.
You can watch these here
.
In the time we spent there, the activists were visited by a
constant stream of delegations from across Europe, from Swiss anarchists to
French communists - all there to deliver messages of support and solidarity and
promises of action. All these visits, and solidarity actions happening around
the world, are being covered by ANF English news, which you can follow here. We visited
to deliver a message of solidarity from Scotland, and to also promise action.
We spent a considerable amount of our time there discussing with the hunger strikers
how best we in Scotland can support them in their fight for justice. All they
are asking from the international community is to recognise and support their
action, and for all of us to push our politicians to hold Turkey to account. The
mass hunger strike has already achieved some success, as seen by Leyla Guven’s
release and the brief visit allowed by Ocalan’s brother. But we have to not
only keep up the pressure but build it.
We all need to act now! See below for a list of actions that
you as an individual - and your trade union branches – can do to make a
difference. We have heard
today that one of our comrades in Strasbourg, Kerem Solhan, has suffered a
deterioration in health, and has been admitted to hospital but is refusing
treatment. Let’s make sure our politicians can’t ignore this struggle for
justice!
WHAT WE CAN ALL DO
They are starving themselves so that the world takes notice
and compels Turkey to end the isolation of Abdullah Ocalan. We can help spread
their message, we can put pressure on our elected representatives, and we can
send them our personal support directly. Here are some suggested actions: (You
can write to your MPs etc via this link: https://www.writetothem.com/)
1/ Check for news
to read and share on https://anfenglishmobile.com/ and on our Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan Facebook
page, https://www.facebook.com/ScottishSolidaritywithKurdistan/
2/ Sign the
change.org petition calling on the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture to visit Ocalan, https://www.change.org/p/european-committee-for-the-prevention-of-torture-cpt-we-want-cpt-to-visit-mr-ocalan-at-imrali-prison
3/ Ask your union
to send this information to all members and to consider submitting an emergency
motion to the STUC conference. And ask your local Trades Council to contact
affiliated unions and to organise a public meeting, and to consider sending a
branch delegation to visit the hunger strikers in Strasbourg, as a show of
solidarity.
4/ Ask your MEP
to put pressure on the European institutions to back their words with actions
and make Turkey comply with their own constitution and European human rights
conventions. And also ask them to push for the EU to stop giving Turkey
financial aid.
5/ Ask your MP to
sign this EDM, https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/52440/hunger-strike-by-leyla-g%C3%BCven-mp
;to raise the issue of Ocalan’s illegal isolation publicly wherever possible;
to demand that the Foreign Minister puts pressure on Turkey to comply with its
obligations to end the isolation of Ocalan and to restart the peace talks; and
to demand that the UK stops selling Turkey weapons.
6/ Also write
directly to Jeremy Hunt, the UK Foreign Secretary, to demand that he puts
pressure on Turkey to comply with its obligations to end the isolation of Ocalan
and to restart the peace talks; and that the UK stops selling Turkey weapons.
You can email him on fcocorrespondence@fco.gov.uk
7/ Ask your MSP
to sign this Motion http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S5M-15432
; to show public support for the hunger strikers’ call, and to ensure that no
more Scottish Government money is given to firms that sell weapons to Turkey.
8/ Organise a
public demonstration to raise awareness of the hunger strike. Share details of
any events with us so we can publicise, and also share pictures so we can pass
on to the Kurdish media.
9/ Send a
personal postcard directly to the hunger strikers via the Kurdish Community
Centre, 7 Rue de Broque, Strasbourg 67200, France
10/ And if you
are able to go to Strasbourg, or Newport, yourself, you can be sure that your
visit will be hugely appreciated. Please contact us if you are planning a
visit.
Here is some background information you can use in your
letters:
The isolation of imprisoned Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan
is contrary to Turkey’s own constitution and to international human rights law.
Ocalan’s ideas have inspired a major movement for grassroots, multi-ethnic
secular democracy, and the respect in which he is held makes him key to a
peaceful settlement for the Kurds in Turkey – an ideal for which he has strived
repeatedly over the last two decades.
Ocalan is in his 20th year of imprisonment by Turkey and is
being denied access to his family and to his lawyers. Ocalan’s importance,
together with the lack of international action, has forced the Kurds to take
the desperate step of mass indefinite hunger strikes. MP Leyla Guven has been
on hunger strike since 8 November. She has been joined by over 250 other
political prisoners in Turkish jails and also by Kurdish activists around the
world, including 14 at the seat of the European parliament in Strasbourg, and
Imam Sis in the Kurdish Community Centre in Newport, Wales, who began their own
hunger strike on 17 December.
The Council of Europe, of which Turkey is a member, regards
Isolation as a torture and a crime against humanity, but they need to act on
their words. The European Court of Human Rights must take action against Turkey
on many counts, and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture must
fulfil its role and visit Ocalan in prison. At the same time, the EU and UK
must end their friendly engagement with Turkey, and European countries,
including the UK, must stop selling Turkey weapons that will be used to
suppress dissidents and minorities at home and attack Kurdish areas across the
border.
In response to the pressure of the hunger strike, the
Turkish Government has allowed Ocalan’s brother a brief, ten-minute, visit –
the first in 2 ½ years – and they have allowed Leyla Guven home on the 78th day
of her strike. But the strikers are united in their determination that these
token gestures are not enough and that they won’t be distracted from their
fundamental and simple demand.
As Leyla Guven says, ‘The isolation of Ocalan is a barrier
on the way to peace.’