For three days - from 23 to 25 January – activists from the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) are on hunger strike in solidarity with the PKK/PAJK prisoners in Turkey. The action is not only intended to express solidarity with the Kurdish prisoners, but also to criticize parts of the Turkish left that continue to adopt social-chauvinist positions towards the Kurdish liberation movement.

Leyla Can from the board member of the Istanbul ESP spoke to ANF and said: “We were and are witness to a position of the working left that always takes a step back when it comes to the Kurdish freedom struggle.” The ESP said that this social-chauvinist line continues and added: “Because of the impact of chauvinism, the hunger strikes of Kurdish prisoners have little appeal among the working left. Their concerns must be pursued as a central agenda.”

A hunger strike led by PKK/PAJK prisoners has been taking place in well over a hundred Turkish prisons since 27 November 2023 in support of the global campaign “Freedom for Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question”. There has been no news from Abdullah Öcalan for three years. The minimum demand of the prisoners is the lifting of the isolation of the Kurdish people’s leader, who is considered the main negotiator for a solution to the Kurdish question.

Support for Palestine but silence about Rojava

Can continued: “We see that there is support for the Palestinian freedom struggle – which is part of the political self-image of the socialist and left-wing movement. But there are no objections to the occupation and war policy in Rojava.”

The isolation on Imrali is also being ignored by parts of the Turkish left, which have always denied the specific conditions of Kurdistan.

Can said: “We have seen what happens to academics whose names appeared in appeals for peace against the war in Afrin. We also witnessed the treatment of Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who was accused of terrorist propaganda because she called for investigations into the use of chemical weapons by the Turkish army against Kurdish guerrillas. Recently, DEM MP Adalet Kaya was threatened with death because she spoke about Mr Öcalan's solitary confinement. All of this serves to intimidate and silence those who speak out on the Kurdish issue through arrests and detentions. This repressive policy is intended to prevent people from talking about isolation.”

Can added: “We also experience from time to time the oppressive politics pursued by the fascist one-man regime, sometimes as prisoners, sometimes as visitors to prisoners. Degrading naked searches, lynching attempts during cell searches, torture in padded cells, mistreatment and violence in detention cells and prison transport vehicles, sexual harassment, threats, insults, are just some of the methods that the isolation system uses.”

Cohesion and solidarity against the fascist siege

Can said: “The Turkish regime is pursuing a fascist strategy of siege and isolation, both internally and externally. This situation requires cohesion from the socialist and working left and full solidarity with the Kurdish movement. With powerful actions by the democratic-revolutionary structures outside the prison walls, we can unite with those resisting in prisons and break the fascist siege.”