PKK and PAJK prisoners in six jails will begin an hunger strike today. The action is to protest against the isolation Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has been kept under since his arrest in 1999. The prisoners underlined that there has been no news about the Kurdish leader health and general situation for 14 months now. Öcalan has been denied visits with his lawyers since 27 July 2011.

The prisoners have announced, through their spokesperson Deniz Kaya, that the hunger strike will be indefinite. They also protest against what they called the "political genocide" perpetrated by the Turkish state against Kurds.

The prisons involved in the protest are:

Diyarbakýr D type, Diyarbakýr E Type, Bolu F Type, Kandýra F 1 and F 2, Siirt prison.

The prisoners beginning the hunger strike in Bolu F Type prison are:

Sakýp Hazman, Abdullah Oral, Maruf Türkan, Aydýn Þaka, Muzaffer Akengin, Murat Avcý, Hasan Ateþçi, Ali Þek and Ali Adýman.

In Diyarbakýr E Type prison 9 women are beginning the hunger strike: Sara Aktaþ, Mizgin Arý, Nihayet Taþdemir, Herdem Kýzýlkaya, Pero Dündar, Besime Konca, Seve Demir, Taybet Belge and Zeynep Kaplan.

Since 1 September PKK prisoner Gönül Erdoðan is on hunger strike in Bakýrköy women prison.