Doctor Fincancı visited Leyla Güven

"In Turkey's prisons there are some 300 prisoners on hunger strike. The authorities should end isolation in Turkey and prevent people from dying.”

Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) chairperson and forensic medicine professor doctor Şebnem Korur Fincancı visited Leyla Güven, who has been on hunger strike since November 8.

Fincancı was accompanied by Diyarbakır Medical Chamber (DTO) president, Mehmet Şerif Demir and member Cengiz Günay.

Fincancı said in a statement after the visit: “As expected, loss of strength and weight are consistent with the long fast. Due to the fact that hunger strikers now take liquid and vitamin B, from the year 2000 we have a different picture in comparison to the 1996 hunger strike. Especially the brain tissue and nerves are protected. This is very important.”

Fincancı said that in Turkey it is not easy to find B vitamins, thus hunger strikers are taking B-complex. She added: "We observed the effects of vitamin B in Leyla. The nerves are protected despite her being on the 105th day of fast. But there is a lot of risk. Both in terms of age and health situation, we need to be alert. At this stage, as the damage to the muscle tissue progresses, it can also cause problems to the heart.”

Ending her remarks, Fincancı said: “Isolation is torture. We always say that isolation should not be practiced in any way, and that social conditions should be met for all prisoners. In Turkey's prisons there are some 300 prisoners on hunger strike. The authorities should end isolation in Turkey and prevent people from dying.”