“The hunger strike protests of political prisoners in Turkish penitentiary institutions have reached a critical point,” stated the Prison Committee of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Thursday.
The hunger strikes began on February 15 in Sakran prison and have since spread to at least nine other facilities around the country, HDP reported. Strikers seek to draw attention to the conditions in Turkey’s prisons and are also protesting the isolation of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and Ankara’s violence in Kurdish areas.
In addition to 100 prisoners, including 34 women, carrying out indefinite hunger strikes, “political prisoners” have been carrying out “five-day-long alternating solidarity hunger strikes in several other facilities since March 15,” HDP stated.
On March 31, high profile prisoners joined in the hunger strike, namely HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas, HDP MP Abdullah Zeydan, and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Sebahat Tuncel.
“As members of parliament, we have no personal demand whatsoever. We are on hunger strike to draw attention to the widespread hunger strikes and problems in prisons, to remind the Ministry of Justice of its responsibility and in particular, to protest the arbitrary practices of the Edirne Prison Director,” a statement from Demirtas and Zeydan declared on the commencement of their protest.
The two HDP representatives’ hunger strike ended within the day as they declared they had received “well-intentioned commitments made for the resolution of the problems” from the management of Edirne F-Type prison where they are being held.
They urged authorities in other prisons to also begin dialogue with prisoners who are carrying out hunger strikes.
HDP reported that prisoners in Sakran and Tekirdag prisons, where hunger strikes have been ongoing for at least 51 and 30 days, respectively, “are now at the edge of death.”
The pro-Kurdish opposition party said that prison authorities have not responded to prisoners’ calls and, in some places, are refusing to give striking prisoners B12 vitamins.
Turkish authorities arrested tens of thousands of people after a failed coup in July 2016 for alleged involvement in the unsuccessful plot. Many pro-Kurdish politicians have also been detained on charges of supporting the banned PKK during Ankara’s renewed conflict with the armed Kurdish group.
Human rights organizations have reported abuse, torture, and overcrowding within Turkey’s jails, aggravated by the mass arrests following the attempted coup.
Ankara has justified its arrests, saying it is fighting terrorism on multiple fronts, including with the PKK and the Gulen movement of Fethullah Gulen, who Turkish leaders accuse of being behind the attempted coup.
Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, has denied reports of ill-treatment in Turkish jails. “There is no ill-treatment and torture in penal institutions and detention houses in Turkey,” he asserted in an undated statement on the ministry’s website.
He said that there is a unit within his ministry that examines all reports of abuse or ill-treatment in detention centres and makes the reports public. Turkey shows “zero tolerance towards ill-treatment/torture,” he stated, and the nation’s jails are open to international and civilian monitoring.
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