Huseyin Yildiz and Hasbi Cakici, two men from Kurdistan who joined the hunger strike resistance launched by the DTK Co-chair Leyla Guven to protest the isolation imposed upon Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Ocalan from the Hague in the Netherlands, were visited by MEP and candidate up for reelection on the May 23 European elections Kati Piri.

Piri said the following: “I know how hard the conditions are for refugees, as my own father came to the Netherlands as a political refugee. So I can understand your struggle better. I will continue to fight for human rights and democracy in the Parliament. I visited Amed and Mardin and saw the destruction there by my own eyes.

Turkey must become a democratic country. And that can be possible if the Kurdish people’s demands in their struggle are met. If I’m elected to the European Parliament again this term, I will continue my fight for the democratization of the Turkish state everywhere. Your support for me in the elections is huge, people come up to me in the streets and say. ‘Kurds came to us and asked us to support you’. It happens frequently. I will continue to fight for the demands of the friends on hunger strikes. I am grateful for your support. I will continue to call for freedom for Kurds and democracy in Turkey in the EP.”

Hunger strikers Huseyin Yildiz and Hasbi Cakici thanked Piri for her visit and gave her flowers.