Brussels Parliamentary President’s statement on hunger strikes

Brussels Francophone Parliamentary President Julie De Groote said the hunger strikes for Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Ocalan should become collective memory.

Julia De Groote, President of the Brussels Francophone Parliament which hosted a conference on the plight of Yazidi women on Thursday, spoke to the ANF about the hunger strikes led by HDP MP Leyla Guven.

REFERENCES OUR APATHY

De Groote said, “This is a tough question, which references our apathy and lack of a capacity to take action.”

Leyla Guven started the hunger strike resistance on November 8 in the Amed prison to break the isolation imposed upon Ocalan, then the hunger strikes spread to Hewler, Strasbourg, Newport and many other cities throughout the world. The hunger strikes are at a critical level, while the Turkish government and European capitals remain silent.

De Groote spoke about what can be done for the hunger strikers: “First, their true message must be understood, because they say they are prepared to go to the final extreme.”

WE NEED COLLECTIVE MEMORY

De Groote added: “One could say, if we are not from the same society, the issue doesn’t concern us. The Yazidi conference held today (Thursday) in the Parliament shows how individual memory doesn’t work. It must be a collective memory.”

The conference held in the French-language parliament in Brussels on the plight of Yazidi women included NGOs working about this issue, historians, lawyers and testimony from two Yazidi women. De Groote and MP Viviane Teitelbaum spoke to the ANF after the conference and said they would take initiative in the parliament for the recognition of the Yazidi genocide.

HIGH COURAGE

De Groote stressed that the hunger strikes also should become collective memory: “For a memory to translate into action, it has to be collective. Whether we agree or not, the demand of these women must first be heard.”

“On the hunger strikes, we see an extremely high and disrupting courage,” said De Groot and continued: “It is disrupting. We must be able to stop it so lives are not lost.”

De Groote argued that the media in particular should take the issue to the international arena, and warned: “Or it will be passed by and ignored.”

IT TAKES TWO TO DIALOGUE

De Groot pointed out that in order to open a path for dialogue in Turkey, there must first be two sides. In an answer to a question, De Groot said: “It takes two to dialogue. The etymology of the word requires two parties.”