For the past hundred days, a hunger strike protest by political prisoners has been taking place in Turkey against the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan and the rights violations in Turkish prisons. Esin Çelik, co-chair of the prisoners' support association TUHAY-DER in the Marmara region, spoke to ANF about the status of the hunger strike.

The first thing Çelik emphasizes is that there is no good news from the prisons. Hunger strikes have been taking place repeatedly since 2018, and as a result, prisoners are physically weakened. In any case, many prisoners have suffered permanent damage due to the prison conditions and their health is getting worse. As the isolation on Imrali has spread to all prisons, another hunger strike has been launched on November 27.

Prisoners are not released even after serving their sentence

Since then, repression in the prisons has been further intensified, Esin Çelik notes. The AKP/MHP government ignores the calls that there should be no more deaths in prison. Arbitrary disciplinary and solitary confinment punishments are imposed continuously, resulting in prisoners not being released even after serving their actual sentences. According to Çelik, the Düzce Prison in the Marmara region is particularly affected by massive rights violations. The prisoners have been assaulted, mistreated and subjected to arbitrary punitive measures, she said.

Corona infections in Gebze Women's Prison

In the women's prison in Gebze, ten prisoners are said to have been infected with the coronavirus. Esin Çelik assumes that preventive measures against the pandemic are deliberately not being taken. Because of COVID-19, visits by relatives cannot take place, but at the same time, especially since the beginning of the hunger strike, the cells are constantly raided and searched by the guards. "The only contact with the outside is through the soldiers and guards. We have heard that ten women in Gebze have been infected after being searched without masks and gloves," Çelik tells us. It is unknown how the women are doing and whether they are receiving medical treatment. Neither relatives nor lawyers have been informed.

"The right also applies to Abdullah Öcalan"

Esin Çelik says that the demand of the hunger strike is legitimate: "Mr. Öcalan has the fundamental right to contact relatives and his laawyers. No person should have to endanger his health or die for this right to be implemented. It applies to everyone and therefore also to Mr. Öcalan. The isolation must be lifted immediately. Violations of rights must end, prisoners must not be given medical treatment in handcuffs."

Threat of intensification of hunger strike

Prisoners had sent word through their families that the form of the hunger strike would be intensified if their demands were not met. So far, the action is taking place in groups on a rotating basis. "We don't want more deaths in prisons," Çelik says, calling on human rights institutions and democratic mass organizations to take urgent action. Regarding the "Human Rights Action Plan" announced by President Tayyip Erdogan, Çelik says, "Such a plan must first and foremost be implemented in the prisons. Isolation must be suspended and rights violations must end."