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The Hunger Strikes In Turkey: Using One'S Body As A Means Of Communi

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  • The Hunger Strikes In Turkey: Using One'S Body As A Means Of Communi

    THE HUNGER STRIKES IN TURKEY: USING ONE'S BODY AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

    http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/10/31/the-hunger-strikes-in-turkey-using-ones-body-as-a-means-of-communication/
    by Ayse Gunaysu
    October 31, 2012

    Life came to a standstill in the Kurdish provinces of Turkey on Oct.
    30. Shops and businesses were closed, except for a few bakeries and
    pharmacies. Buses and other means of public transportation were out
    of service. Children didn't go to school.

    Oct. 30 marked the 48th day of hunger strikes by Kurdish political
    prisoners in Turkey-a critical stage for human life, not to mention
    lasting disabilities. And the government, instead of taking a step
    toward a peaceful settlement, continued to fuel the conflict by
    slandering the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

    Protesters in the streets, both in Istanbul and in the Kurdish
    provinces, were tear-gassed, chased, beaten, and taken into police
    custody.

    Oct. 30 marked the 48th day of hunger strikes by Kurdish political
    prisoners in Turkey-a critical stage for human life, not to mention
    lasting disabilities. And the government, instead of taking a step
    toward a peaceful settlement, continued to fuel the conflict by
    slandering the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

    At a time when millions of Kurds were waiting for a hopeful sign from
    the government, Prime Minister Erdogan on Oct. 30 declared that he
    would not give in to the ongoing "blackmailing [of] the government
    by deaths in prisons."

    The Kurdish prisoners had begun the hunger strikes on Sept. 12. Their
    demands: the release of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah
    Ocalan from solitary confinement; the right of education in Kurdish;
    and the right to defend themselves in Kurdish during trial.

    With new groups joining, the number quickly reached 700, with 8,000
    people taking part in hunger strikes outside of prison.

    Their demands may seem unusual; they do not, after all, involve an
    improvement in prison conditions, or the better treatment of inmates.

    They are more political in nature.

    Ocalan's solitary confinement on Imrali Island in the Marmara Sea
    continues under even more severe conditions. For 461 days since July
    27, 2011, he has not been allowed to see his lawyers, whose formal
    applications for a visit have been denied for unlawful and nonsensical
    bureaucratic reasons.

    No steps have been taken to resolve the "Kurdish question." The war in
    south-eastern Turkey has been going on for 30 years; has claimed some
    50,000 lives; has caused the forced evacuation of 3,000 villages,
    leaving millions homeless and unemployed in nearby towns; and has
    seen thousands of cases of unsolved murders and missing persons under
    police/military custody.

    No attempt has been made toward a peace-building process by the
    government; on the contrary, the conflict continues to claim more
    lives and damage the whole social, political, and economic landscape
    of Turkey.

    The war is not confined to the mountains anymore. It has spread
    to the cities, and through mass arrests. For the past two years,
    thousands of human rights activists, municipality workers, lawyers,
    journalists, intellectuals, students, and trade unionists have been
    thrown in jail with no solid legal evidence of having committed any
    offense. The ongoing mass arrests have destroyed the entire setting
    for a peaceful political struggle by the Kurds and their supporters.

    While parliament members have long worked on a new constitution,
    there's no indication of any intention to recognize the Kurdish
    identity as an equal and active part of Turkey's social and political
    life.

    What's worse, the government's language grows more and more insulting
    when talking about the Kurdish question. The givernment refuses
    to enter into any kind of talks with BDP deputies, accusing them
    of collaborating with the "terrorists." This, in turn, provokes
    ultra-nationalist para-military mobs ready to stage lynching attempts
    in the western provinces of Turkey-which has been happening with
    greater frequency lately.

    BDP deputies are indeed treated like "terrorists" by the police
    during peaceful demonstrations, where they are beaten, tear-gassed,
    and hit by pressurized jets of water.

    An estimated 10,000 Kurdish prisoners in Turkey, who are denied the
    right to defend themselves in their mother tongue during trials, are
    making a call to Turkey and to the world to hear them. They want us
    to see that they have been left with no choice but to use their own
    bodies as a means of communication, at the cost of a slow and painful
    death in the eyes of a totally indifferent Turkish majority.

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