Prisoners in prisons have been on a rotating hunger strike since November 27, 2023, demanding "freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and a solution to the Kurdish issue." Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Central Anatolia Representative Ensar Bozkurt, Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) Provincial Organization manager Mehmet Ali Tosun, United Revolutionary Party Provincial Chair Mustafa Uğur Akkaya, Altınteri Newspaper Ankara Representative Zarife Çamalan and Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Provincial Co-chair Fatin Kanat evaluated the hunger strike actions, which have passed their 51st day.

 

'ABDULLAH ÖCALAN IS THE INTERLOCUTOR'

 

DBP Central Anatolia Representative Ensar Bozkurt emphasized that the isolation is a "crime against humanity". Bozkurt said: "Isolation is something that is not accepted anywhere in the world and under any law. This isolation is applied to all the people of Turkey."

Emphasizing the importance of the hunger strike actions in prisons, Bozkurt said: "We must not leave this process only to prisons. There are also support actions initiated in this context. As DBP, we will also provide support in Ankara."

 

Stating that the abolishing of the isolation will bring important developments in the Middle East, Kurdistan and Turkey, Bozkurt said: "The AKP-MHP fascist government's insistence on isolation is an insistence on war and assimilation. In this sense, when this isolation is broken, the people of the Middle East, Turkey and Kurdistan will achieve prosperity and peace. Peace will come. Because Mr. Öcalan is the addressee of this matter. We need to fight harder to further socialize such a vital issue and situation. Yes, this is a difficult process, but the Kurds and their supporters will break this isolation."

 

'THE ACTION MUST BE OWNED'

 

ESP Provincial Organization manager Mehmet Ali Tosun said: "Our duty is to announce this isolation to the people. In this sense, we need to deal with it and aim for it. Hunger strike action must be embraced. We are obliged to eliminate the isolation and the negativities it brings as much as possible. This is the duty of revolutionaries and socialists."

 

'THE STRUGGLE MUST RISE'

 

United Revolutionary Party Provincial Chair Mustafa Uğur Akkaya said that the isolation has spread to all the people of Turkey. Akkaya said: "The extent of isolation in Turkey continues in a much more aggravated manner. An isolation has been imposed on Leader  of the Kurds Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held in İmralı Prison with an international conspiracy, for 25 years. The isolation is not only an isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan, but also on all the people of Turkey. It is a message. It is an isolation imposed on the people of Turkey. It is not possible for our people to be free unless we break the isolation."

 

Pointing out that the only way to end the isolation is through "united struggle and the streets", Akkaya said: "The Kurds show the necessary sensitivity, but today the working class and laborers of Turkey have not done anything to end the isolation. As the Revolutionary Party, we will of course make an intense and constructive effort to achieve this. We have to listen to the voices rising from the dungeons. Because it is the people of Turkey who are personally subjected to the torture of that isolation. It is the workers of Turkey, the laborers of Turkey. Therefore, the working class of Turkey, the laborers and the revolutionary movement itself as a whole must raise their struggle against this isolation."

 

'THE STRUGGLE MUST BE INTEGRATED'

 

Emphasizing the importance of the joint struggle against isolation, Altınteri newspaper Provincial Representative Zarife Çamalan emphasized that the hunger strike action in prisons alone is not enough. Çamalan said: "This needs to find its response outside as well. In every field, there are workers, laborers and marginalized people from ethnic identities, languages and beliefs. What we call this isolation is not a policy that only covers prisons, it is a policy that cellularises, separates, alienates all our lives, distances them from each other and turns them into enemies. It's the same for the working class, it's the same for women, it's the same for the youth."

 

Çamalan said: "There needs to be a response for this outside, solidarity needs to be built, the voice needs to be raised and it needs to be heard in every area. As the left and socialists, we need to integrate the struggle and organize it. While the prisoners in prison want both the end of the isolation on themselves and the end of the isolation in İmralı. This action needs to be combined with the people's struggle for freedom." 

 

‘HEAR THE PRISONS'

 

DEM Party Provincial Co-Chair Fatin Kanat, who said that the prisons where the most hunger strikes in the world take place are in Turkey, stated that the Kurdish issue and other issues are becoming increasingly gangrenous. Pointing to the violations in prisons, Kanat said: "There is a process in which arbitrary disciplinary punishments, visit bans, book and letter bans and many other similar arbitrariness are imposed, and people are deprived of natural ventilation environments. We call on all sensitive public opinion; hear the prisons. The current government, we call on you to give up these practices because there is no continuation of this."