Jailed politician Zeynep Ölbeci, who is being tried within the scope of the Kobanê Case, said that they are taking part in the hunger strike that has been going on in prisons since 27 November within the scope of the "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, solution to the Kurdish question" campaign.

In a letter she sent through her lawyers, Ölbeci said that she and her fellow prisoners had joined the hunger strike.

I am part of a honorable struggle

Ölbeci wrote the following in her letter:

"Dear Kurdish people, dear socialists, democrats, intellectuals, women and young people who love their country, I greet you wholeheartedly with respect and love. Please do not think that I am greeting you because I am a victim. As a woman who has been on trial in the Kobanê Case for 3 years, I have been a part of this honorable struggle for peace, for a democratic, equal and free life.

We have left behind the challenging year 2023. It has been one of the years when war was insisted on for someone's benefit and fire fell on our homes every day. Those who support the status quo, those who favor war, understand that the solution to the Kurdish question can only be achieved through destruction. However, the negotiation table established in 2013 showed us that the solution to the Kurdish question is possible by talking, without weapons, and through politics. Great prices were paid for peace, honorable life and unity. But in 2015, the negotiation table was overturned in favor of the status quo and war profiteers for the sake of one-sided, political and economic gain.

Essential for peace

The Kurdish political prisoners, including myself, are of the opinion that a return to the negotiation process and the resumption of peace talks are only possible if the leading role of Abdullah Öcalan in the Kurdish question is remembered, the heavy isolation imposed on him is lifted and visits with his lawyers and family members are allowed. This is essential for peace. As Kurdish people and Kurdish women, we believed in this and put peace at the center of our struggle. On 27 November 2023, Kurdish prisoners went on an indefinite hunger strike for ten days for each group. Our main demands are the lifting of Mr Öcalan's isolation and a new start to negotiations to resolve the Kurdish question.

War against free and equal life

We call on the people to step up the fight for a democratic and free life in line with these demands. Because the source of all the evil we experience is the insistence on war against a free and equal life, against the model of a democratic nation.

We are not condemned to this organized evil

The massacres of women and children, the rape, hunger and misery that society faces, the influx of drug lords from all over the world into the country, the fact that our people have to migrate all over the world because they cannot find a future in their own country, the source of our inability to cope with natural disasters is an organized evil. We are not forced and condemned to live under the rule of this organized evil. Therefore, our fundamental need as a society is not to insist on war, but to show the will to resolve the Kurdish question through democratic methods.

Hope for a dignified peace

My friends and I went on hunger strike to demand an end to the isolation and start negotiations. I call on all democratic people to fight harder for the implementation of our fair and legitimate demands. I salute you all with respect and love, with hope and in the belief that a dignified peace will soon return to the region."