The Solidarity with Prisoners Initiative made a press statement in front of Bakırköy Prison to raise concern over the massive hunger strike in prisons on its 216th day, demanding an end to the isolation of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and violations of rights in Turkey’s prisons.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Istanbul Deputy Züleyha Gülüm also participated in the protest. Slogans "Isolation kills, solidarity keeps live", "Long live the prison resistance", "Release the sick prisoners" were chanted during the protest.

'ISOLATION AFFECTS THE WHOLE COUNTRY'

Speaking here, Gülüm said, “The government carries out hostile policies in prisons. Sick prisoners are not released. The prisoners raise their voice against the isolation and the violations of rights. In order not to die, those in prison have to go on hunger strike. We are going through a process that started with the F-type prisons and expanded at Imralı and the entire society has been isolated. The isolation on Mr. Öcalan is an isolation on the peace channels of this country. We know very well what kind of environment emerged during the solution process. There was a hope that the Kurdish problem could be resolved through democratic means. Let the isolation be lifted now.”

'WE WILL BE THE VOICE OF THE PRISONERS’

The initiative member Fatma Yıldırım read out the statement, saying, “Prisons are one of the instruments used by the governments to discipline the society since the day they were first established. It aims to alienate people from themselves through its practices aimed at isolating people and making them obey. It resorts to various prohibitions and restrictions to achieve this goal. All activities in prisons such as the right to letter, phone call, visitation, newspapers, books and publications, sports and cultural activities, workshops are communicative activities. They are fundamental human rights, and their prohibition is non-human,” Yıldırım said.

“While it was announced that the bans would be lifted and normalization would begin as of July 1, it is not surprising that no explanation has been made about normalization in prisons. It is clear that the bans put in place under the pretext of pandemic are intended to be permanent. All kinds of violation of rights, especially the communication bans in prisons, should be ended. We will continue to be the voice of the revolutionary prisoners who have been targeted and arrested because they are the most advanced segments of society,” she added.