RIHA - Drawing attention that the demands of the prisoners on hunger strike were justified and legitimate, ÖHD, İHD and SES managers in Riha emphasized that the demands of prisoners should be met.

 

The hunger strikes launched in Turkey and Kurdistan prisons to ensure the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan have entered their 25th day. Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) Riha Branch Prisons Commission Co-Spokesperson Serhat Kurt, Health and Social Service Workers' Union (SES) Branch Co-chair Ferhat Demir and Human Rights Association (IHD) Riha Branch Prisons Commission Co-Spokesperson Halil Akbaş evaluated the hunger strike started by the prisoners.

 

'ACTING WITH POLITICAL REASONS INSTEAD OF LAW'

 

Stating that they report the situation of the prisoners at 3-month intervals every year regarding the unlawfulness, ÖHD Riha Branch Prisons Commission Co-Spokesperson Serhat Kurt said: "We visited Urfa Type T Closed Prisons No. 1 and 2 on the 2nd day of the hunger strike. During our visits, any steps were not taken regarding rights violations in prisons, and that the isolation was gradually deepened. The prisoners wrote letters to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission, and national and international human rights institutions on the day they started their strike. Their demands are justified demands. Political prisoners are suffering from hunger again in the last period, as in the past years, against the war and isolation policies. They have to start the strike. The isolation imposed on Mr. Öcalan has been implemented since the day he was held. This isolation now exceeds the level of torture. In its latest report, the CPT warned Turkey about the unlawfulness taking place in Imrali; however, especially after the coup attempt, the law was suspended in the country. The AKP and MHP coalition's perspective on the Kurdish issue and its isolation policy have brought us to these days because the government acts with political reasons instead of law."

 

'WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT WHAT WE SHOULD DO'

 

Stating that the prisoners sent a message to both the state and the AKP-MHP government with their hunger strike, Halil Akbaş, Co-Spokesperson of IHD Riha Branch Prison Commission said: "The government wanted to instill fear in the people with isolation. People are worried about the future with the isolation imposed from İmralı to the prisons and from there to the whole society with the hunger strike they started. The political prisoners are trying to break the isolation imposed on Mr. Öcalan, while at the same time aiming to break the people's fear; that's why, they once again shouldered this action. As a people, we need to take a message from this and think about what we should do."

 

'THE PRISONERS DID NOT QUIT THE RESISTANCE'

 

Stating that the prisoners did not give up the resistance despite their limited opportunities, Akbaş said: "Human rights defenders, intellectuals and opinion leaders should act together to break the isolation and restore democracy. We need to take to the streets, which is our right within democratic and legal boundaries, and raise our voices. We need to shout that we want to live freely on the streets and that the isolation imposed on Mr. Öcalan must be lifted for this. Mr. Öcalan's ideas and thoughts will pave the way for the politics carried out in Turkey, Kurdistan and the Middle East. We all know that he will open the door because his ideas include a system that will enable peace to be established and people to live together. We need to hear his thoughts and ideas in order to establish this system that will ensure peace."

 

ACCESS TO RIGHT TO HEALTH

 

Stating that one of the most basic demands of the prisoners in the hunger strikes is access to the right to health and the situation of ill prisoners, SES Riha Branch CoChair Ferhat Demir said: “We know from the complaints made and reflected in the press that there are serious violations of the prisoners' right to health in prisons. There are serious weaknesses in prisoners' access to the right to health. We also see the problems that ill prisoners face in accessing health."

 

'WHILE THE PRISONERS ARE ON HUNGER STRIKE, THEIR RIGHTS  ARE VIOLATED'

 

Stating that the prison administrations did not give the prisoners exactly the food they were supposed to give to the prisoners who started hunger strikes, Demir said: “We are receiving information that the prisoners did not receive some of the food they were supposed to receive during their hunger strikes. The hunger strikes are a form of action against the anti-democratic implementation currently implemented by prisoners. While the prisoners are on hunger strike, their rights are violated. The prisoners need to be approached in light of the ethical principles determined by the World Medical Organization. The rights of prisoners on hunger strikes are guaranteed in both the Malta and Tokyo Declarations. It is essential to comply with these."

 

MA / Ceylan Şahinli