JINHA

‎TURKEY - 10.000 Political prisoner are on hunger-strike in Turkey. Some have turned this into a death-fast. Below is a letter from one of them.

Barış Mete, born in 1975 in Malatya:

“I’ve been in prison for 7 years. I have a year and a half of sentence left. As you know the isolation of our leader, Abdullah Öcalan, is intensifying day by day.

The fascist, Turkish state is preventing our leader from meeting with his family and lawyers.

This approach is proof that the state does not want the freedom of the Kurdish people.

The Kurdish people have emphasised on all occasions and platforms that Abdullah Öcalan is their political will. The state has refused to acknowledge this.

They insist on continuing the policy of denial and annihilation against the Kurdish people. This is why the 15 month intensified isolation of our leader is unacceptable.

The Kurdish people have said ‘Öcalan’s existence is our existence, his freedom our freedom.’ This is why we cannot claim that the will of the Kurdish people has been exercised until our leader is freed.

The state is trying to determine the will of the people, and not accepting their true will. Our leader is a bridge of fraternity between our people (Turks and Kurds).

The intensified isolation of our leader means the intensification of war. With this action (the hunger-strike) we are trying to highlight the conditions of our leader. Isolation must cease immediately and the conditions for treatment created for the road to freedom to be opened.

Our leader is the messenger of peace. For years he has served for a peaceful solution. Unfortunately the state and fascist circles did not heed and respond to his calls.

They insisted on war. If the war is continuing, it is the fault of the Turkish state.

Following the meetings at Imrali and Oslo our leader presented 3 protocols to the state.

However the AKP government refused to accept the conditions set out in this agreement and insisted on its policies of denial and annihilation.

This resulted in more deaths and war. What we want today is the freedom of our leader and an end to the denial and annihilation policies against our nation.

As you will know, we are not permitted to defend ourselves in the Kurdish language in court. Thousands of Kurds are forbidden to defend themselves in their own mother tongue.

With this action we demand that everyone be able to defend themselves in their mother tongue. Until Kurds have this right we are going to continue with our struggle.

Until we have all our rights we are going to continue our action. Our demands are legitimate, this is why in the event of any deaths, it is the AKP government that will be responsible.

The Kurdish people need to support and be in solidarity with us in these extraordinary times. Our families should not insist or call on us to end these hunger-strikes.

We are not going to end these hunger-strikes until our leader is free. We believe that with this action our leader will be free and we will be victorious.’