İZMİR - Stressing that the prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 184 days should be listened to in order to end the aggravated isolation on PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and to end the violations in prisons, the prisoner's relative, Hamayil Güven, said: "We want talks to start with the leader of the Kurds."

 

The hunger strike launched by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) prisoners on November 27, 2020, to end the aggravated isolation imposed upon PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and the increasing violations of rights in prisons is on the 184th day. Hamayil Güven, sister of Mahmut Ulusa, who has been held in Kandıra Prison for 27 years, spoke about the importance of the action.

 

Stating that the hunger strike action of Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair Leyla Güven started on November 8, 2018, other prisoners in prisons were also included, including her brother Mahmut, Hamayil said that the protest continues with the same demands now. She called out the Ministry of Justice. Emphasizing the necessity of fulfilling the demands in order to prevent deaths, Hamayil emphasized that the Kurds were right in their struggle. Hamayil said: "They call everybody terrorists. They are on hunger strike because they want their rights. They want the pressure in prison to end. Leyla Güven almost died. Why don't they meet? Let him speak in the square. Why don't they want him to talk?"

 

‘Distress is being made to the relatives of the prisoners’

 

Pointing out the difficulties they experience every time they go to Kandıra Prison to visit her brother Mahmut, Hamayil said: "We are exposed to insults there. The visit hours are very short and our minutes are wasted on the way back and forth. No money is paid in prison. We are required to send from the post office. When you send some money, it is said ‘why did you take it, why are you sending?’ Our mother and father are dead. Of course I will. However, we are struggling with nice language so that they will take our money. They're taking our picture. They take our fingerprints. When the meeting is over, they say quit immediately and behave rude."

 

‘Kurds want their right to identity’

 

Stating that political prisoners are in prison because they are fighting for their rights, Hamayil said: "Whoever seeks their rights is a terrorist anyway! I am not terrorists, but actually they are terrorists. They oppress the nation, inflict violence on women and children. We want our nation to be free. Kurds have no identity. They want us to be Turkish. They displaced us from our country, insulted the nation. So why didn't they do it to their followers? Their followers are doing every evil thing."

 

‘Is this justice?’

 

Finally, Hamayil spoke about the demands of the prisoners as follows: "They are on a hunger strike because they want their rights. They want the pressure in prison to end. Is this justice? We want identity for the Kurds, we want talks with the leader of the Kurds to start. Otherwise, the hunger strikes will continue. We do not want anyone to die."