French doctor visits hunger strikers in Strasbourg

French doctor Anny Zorn has visited the hunger strikers in the Kurdish community center in Strasbourg to find out about their goals and their state of health.

French doctor Anny Zorn has visited the 14 activists who have been calling for the end of the isolation of the Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan since 17 December with a hunger strike. The general practitioner has experience with the health effects of hunger strikes. Most recently, she has been looking after members of the French ecology movement, who held a thirty-day hunger strike last October in protest against the GCO motorway project in Strasbourg.

During her visit, the doctor exchanged views with her Kurdish colleagues, who provide medical care to the hunger strikers in the Kurdish community center. Asked about potential health problems, Yüksel Koç, co-chair of the Kurdish Association KCDK-E, said the following on their ongoing hunger strike: "Whatever the damage, we will not give up our demand to end the isolation and release of Abdullah Öcalan."

Dr. Zorn pointed to the importance of the mental health of the hunger strikers and explained their good mood with their determination and the many solidarity expressions. She made it clear that the effects of food deprivation are different for every human being and there were no serious health consequences during the thirty-day hunger strike against highway construction last year. However, consequential damage, especially to the heart and kidneys, may not be apparent until after the end of the action, according to the doctor.