MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Colemêrg (Hakkari)- A hunger strike was started by political prisoners across Turkey on November 27, 2023 to demand “freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and a resolution to the Kurdish question”. After the hunger strike that lasted three months, the political prisoners started a new action by refusing the visits by their lawyers and family members on April 4. Since then the political prisoners have refused the visits by their lawyers. The “Be the voice freedom” protest started by their relatives to draw attention to the isolation and resistance in prisons continues. The relatives of prisoners stress that the aggravated isolation imposed on Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in the prison island of Imrali has spread to all facets of life and emphasize that they will resist such policies to the end.

 In the past few days, the relatives of political prisoners went to Ankara, requesting to meet the Minister of Justice; however, they received no response to their request. Describing the process by saying, “There is no justice or law in this country,” the mothers of Gever (Yüksekova) call all Kurdish people to “raise your voices against the usurpation of rights and freedoms.”

 ‘War policies bring no solution’

“The ruling party has declared a war against the Kurdish people,” Kıymet Doğma said, stressing that the Kurdish people are determined to demand peace. “We will keep struggling against the war policies. We struggle to stop more blood from being shed. All political prisoners must be immediately released. The mothers went to Ankara to voice their demands; however, they could not meet the minister. We have received no information from our children. All mothers should support the prisoners. We want to hear the voices of our children. We always stand by our children. Erdoğan wants to shed more blood but we want to stop it. For months, we have not known the conditions of prisoners. This is a form of torture. We will resist to the end. We do not accept torture and we will never remain silent against it. As mothers, we will always take to the streets to voice the demands of our children.”

‘We take steps for a solution’

Nurten Sancak, member of Peace Mothers Initiative, is one of the mothers, who went to Ankara. Indicating that they went to Ankara in order to demand peace and a solution to the Kurdish question, she said, “We went to Ankara for political prisoners. As mothers, we demand the end of this torture. We demand peace with dignity. The end of this isolation and this torture will bring a solution. Every day, the homes of families are raided and young people are detained. All we demand is our rights. We demand a free life and we will demand them to the end. Many mothers died of heart attacks while demanding peace. We do not accept such policies. We take steps for a solution.”

‘We will not bow to these policies’

Mısirhan Çüruh said that they would never remain silent and they would always struggle. “We went to Ankara not just for ourselves but also for all people. We demanded peace and the end of all kinds of oppression. However, we received no response to our demands. They have done the same thing for years. They have no justice or law. They do not want to hear us or the prisoners. Despite everything, we will keep struggling. Yes, we demand peace and justice and we will not bow to these policies. We went from Gever (Yüksekova) to there (Ankara) to stop this bloodshed. They claim that the Kurdish people want a war but they are the ones who really want a war. They prohibit our language, our rights and our will. There is nothing to say to this state. They carry out unjust practices to do what they want. We waited there for hours. We will never bow down by standing by our children.”