The hunger strike resistance initiated by DTK Co-chair and HDP MP Leyla Güven on 7 November 2018 continues amid growing support from all around the world.

Thousands of prisoners have joined the hunger strike action which demands an end to the isolation imposed on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, as well as dozens of Kurdish activists in Turkey, Kurdistan, Europe and beyond.

In Amed (Diyarbakır), HDP deputies Dersim Dağ, Tayip Temel and Murat Sarısaç as well as party members Sevican Yaşar, Salih Cansever, İsmet Yıldız, Salih Tekin, Bilal Özgezer, Abdulhalik Kurt and Yusuf Ateş went on indefinite hunger strike with the same demand.

While 7 HDP members on hunger strike were taken into custody as a result of police raids in the HDP building where the action is carried out, 4 were remanded in custody in the first place.

Abdulhalik Kurt, Yusuf Ateş and Salih Cansever, who were detained in the police raid on 8 March and were released on 12 March after giving a statement, continued their fast in the HDP building.

The three HDP members were detained again during the third raid carried out by the Turkish police on 14 March.

Kurt, Ateş and Cansever were referred to court on Sunday with a demand for their arrest on charges of “membership to an illegal organization”. While Yusuf Ateş was remanded in custody, Cansever and Kurt were sentenced to house arrest.