Leyla Guven, 55, started a hunger strike on November 8, demanding respect for the rights of all prisoners, including the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan. She has demanded an end to his isolation on the island prison of Imrali.
Guven is co-chair of the Democratic Society Party. She was arrested on January 31, 2018 after she opposed Turkey’s military offensive against the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin.
She ran for election in the June 24 parliamentary vote and won a seat. Though she now benefits from parliamentary immunity, authorities have refused to release her despite having freed a CHP lawmaker who was in a similar situation.
The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) says Guven’s life is in danger as her health deteriorates. She has not been able to meet her lawyers because she is so ill.
“With our faith and will, we will lead this resistance of ours to victory,” she wrote in a letter that was read at the demonstration in Diyarbakir on Saturday.
Guven described the isolation of Ocalan as “an obstacle on the path to permanent social peace.”
Ocalan founded the PKK in the 1980s and led an armed uprising against the Turkish state. Accused of treason, he has been incarcerated since 1999.
His lawyers have not been able to meet with him since 2011. This past week, Ocalan’s brother was granted a visit – the first in two years.
Speaking at the rally, HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan noted that, during peace talks when Ocalan was permitted to share public messages, there was peace in Turkey and hope for the future. She urged the authorities to end the isolation the PKK leader is held under in order to restore peace and hope in Turkey.
“Leyla Guven's resistance is the resistance of peace, freedom and brotherhood,” Buldan told the crowd. “We all have to hear Leyla’s cry.”
Guven appears committed to continuing the hunger strike until she sees a result, writing that she will “gladly embrace death for this cause.”
