STATEMENT ON GRUP YORUM AND THE DEATH OF HELIN BOLEK

Those who seek justice in Turkey must not be left alone. We demand that all those who support democracy in Britain, all those in this country who work for justice, and all who enjoy the right to freedom of expression, use whatever means you have to call on the government and other authorities in Turkey to end the repression of Grup Yorum. Helin Bolek’s death was a sacrifice and tragedy. The tragedy unfolding must be ended – now.

 Peace in Kurdistan

 On 3 April 2020 Helin Bolek died on the 288^th of a hunger strike turned death fast. Helin Bolek was a member of the popular Turkish folk band Grup Yorum. She protested the repression of her group and its supporters in Turkey and abroad by the Turkish government, led by President Erdogan. Grup Yorum demanded the right to sing freely, an end to the arrest, imprisonment and torture of Grup Yorum members and supporters, and an end to the ban on Grup Yorum concerts, which have been prohibited for nearly three years. Police attacked mourners at Helin Bolek’s funeral and prevented her from having a proper burial. We are responding to an appeal from parliamentarians and lawyers in Turkey for intervention from abroad to stop further deaths of Grup Yorum members and supporters and to back calls for the authorities in Turkey to stop criminalising dissenting musicians and artists in that country.

Julie Ward MEP vists Leyla Guven and Sabiha Temikzan in Diyarbakir.

Solidarity, resistance and strength: Peoples Democratic Party MP, Leyla Güven ended her 200-day hunger strike on May 26. Güven had been consuming only sugar and salt solutions and vitamins. Her core demand that the Turkish authorities lift the aggravated isolation of Abdullah Ocalan was achieved. Ocalan has now had three visits from his legal team, the first for eight years.

Looking back at the hunger strike by Hilal Seven : Kurds are dying on Hunger strike for democracy.

As we move onto a new post-hunger strike phase , we look back at the words of Hilal Seven, written on 16 May when Leyla Guven was on day 190 of her hunger strike.

Hilal Seven

London/ 16 May

 According to the Human Rights Association 2983 prisoners are on hunger strike in 90 prisons in Turkey since first of March 2019. Most of the hunger strikers are Kurdish and they are political prisoners.

It was then-imprisoned Leyla Güven, a HDP MP, who first started the hunger strike on November 8 in 2018. Inspired by Leyla Güven, the action spread to other prisons and people from all over the world joined it. İmam Şiş, a 32-year-old Kurdish man from Newport began is hunger strike on December 16. Three more people from London are also on hunger strike since March 14: Nahide Zengin, Mehmet Sait Yılmaz, Ali Poyraz.

KURDISH NEWS BRIEFING, 7 MAY 2019 – 27 MAY 2019

NEWS

1.We Salute the Resistance
2.Jailed Kurdish artist Zehra Doğan recalls war at Tate Modern
3.Hunger strikes called off after Ocalan sees lawyers – ‘resistance has prevailed’
4.Turkey to attain peace with efforts of PKK leader Ocalan, says pro-Kurdish HDP, 26 May 2019
5.Hunger strikers end action in Turkey after call from jailed Kurdish leader Ocalan
6.Öcalan: I expect the hunger strikes to come to an end
7.Sajid Javid condemned for ‘criminalising’ fighters against Isis
8.Saturday Mothers awarded Human Rights, Peace and Democracy award
9.AKP official blames Istanbul loss on party’s alienation of Kurdish voters
10.CPT Visits İmralı Island Prison
11.France reopens inquiry into 2013 murder of Kurdish militants
12.Today a NATO country sentenced this woman to nearly two years in jail for journalism
13.Prisoners’ mothers tortured with strip searches
14.Blocked from humanitarian aid, Afrin Kurds experience hardships in Serdem Camp
15.Turkey held talks with PKK leader Ocalan in bid to resolve Syria issues

The hunger strike is over and a new chapter in Kurdish struggle can begin

27 May 2019|Peace in Kurdistan

After 200 days, HDP MP Leyla Guven,  along with other Kurdish MPs and thousands of Kurdish prisoners in Turkey, have ended their hunger strikes in response to the breaking of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan’s isolation.

In ending her hunger strike, Leyla Guven, whose action in November 2018 started a mass movement, said the strike had achieve its immediate demands. She went on to declare that the struggle would continue by other means.

Gildernew meets Kurdish hunger strikers

For immediate release

9 May 2019 

 

Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew has called on the Turkish authorities to release Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan and the thousands of imprisoned Kurdish hunger strikers.

Speaking after meeting Kurdish hunger strikers in London today, the Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP said:

“I met today with Kurdish political activists who are on hunger strike in London calling for an end to the isolation and the release of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan. 

UK to raise issue of Kurdish hunger strikers with Turkey

http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/ff4f6ae4-6480-41fa-a058-4c99362ab956

Kurdistan 24 reports today

Wladimir van Wilgenburg |

14 hours ago

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Plaid Westminster Leader, Liz Saville Roberts, urged the UK government to listen to Kurdish hunger strikers. (Photo: Plaid Cymru)

United Kingdom Turkey Kurdistan PKK Abdullah Ocalan Hunger Strikes

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Sinn Fein MP meets Haringey Hunger Strikers

Tomorrow at 11 am Michelle Gildernew MP (who holds the seat previously held by Bobby Sands MP) will meet with Kurdish Hunger strikers at the Kurdish Community Centre at 11 am.

Statement from Leyla Guven and other HDP deputies:

The statement of the HDP deputies said the following;

“After eight years, Mr. Öcalan has had a meeting with his lawyers. This meeting is historic and of great importance. However, it also brings into question “In what kind of a country are we living that we feel happy over a visit of lawyers that has been arbitrarily and unlawfully prohibited so far?” True, we are all experiencing a bittersweet happiness. Bodies have been melting away to make sure that this meeting takes place. 8 young people have ended their lives for this visit to take place. Our mothers are dragged on the ground every day in order for this meeting to take place, in order for this state to implement its own laws, in order for laws to be equal for everyone.

KCK: Isolation hasn’t ended, demands haven’t been met

ANF, Behdinan, Tuesday 7 May 2019

KCK: “The isolation hasn’t ended, and the demands of the resistance haven’t been met. The lawyers’ visit to Imrali was planned only to ease the domestic and foreign pressure created by the resistance to break the isolation.”

Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Co-presidency issued a written statement after the meeting Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Ocalan had with his lawyers on May 2 was announced to the public and said: “As the Kurdish people and the forces of democracy objected to the isolation, so do the peoples of the world and forces of democracy. The struggle against the isolation has gone beyond the borders of Kurdistan and Turkey and reached an international level. The struggle against the isolation has been assumed by the whole of humanity in the person of Kurdish mothers with white scarves.”