PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) and PAJK (Kurdistan Women's Liberation Party, Partiya Azadiya Jin a Kurdistan) prisoners have begun an indefinite and alternate hunger strike in jails across Turkey and North Kurdistan.

In a statement on behalf of PKK and PAJK prisoners, Deniz Kaya said their protest was a “warning” to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling AKP government, and based on a demand for the recognition of Kurdish people's demand for self-rule and physical freedom for their leader Abdullah Öcalan.

The statement by Kaya drew attention to the policies of denial and annihilation pursued by Erdoğan and the AKP government against the Kurdish people with an unprecedented savagery today. Kaya called upon those calling themselves intellectuals, writers and journalists who remain silent and unresponsive on brutal massacres to respect human values and realities. Kaya warned that the war being waged by Erdoğan against Kurds today is dragging Turkey to the verge of a chaos.

"We need to state clearly that we have never surrendered to these dirty policies during the 43 years of our struggle, nor will we ever surrender. By burning people alive in basements and displaying the naked bodies of victims, AKP government manifests the fact that it pays homage to neither laws of war nor humanity. Erdoğan and AKP government that push the limits of tolerance will be definitively brought to book by the Kurdish people and movement" the statement said.

Kaya emphasised that they as PKK and PAJK inmates in prisons in Turkey and North Kurdistan will be standing by and taking part in the honorable resistance of their people, for which purpose they have started an indefinite and alternate hunger strike in all prisons.

Kaya continued, pointing to the ongoing isolation of Öcalan since after Erdoğan and his men ended the process of talks and negotiations while the Kurdish leader wanted to achieve a permanent solution to stop deaths and bloodshed in the country.

Deniz Kaya said their demand was the ending of the isolation imposed on Öcalan, removal of the siege and curfew in the areas of self-rule and resistance, acknowledgment of Kurdish people's demand for self-rule and their attainment of political status.

The statement noted that the hunger strike of PKK and PAJK prisoners is beginning today and will continue in groups to take over the strike every 10 days.

On behalf of PKK and PAJK prisoners, Kaya remarked that they will defend themselves and enhance the resistance in the face of every attack aimed at them, and called upon all sensible circles to expose the atrocious practices of the AKP government and stand by the Kurdish people.