Aysel Doğan, who had come to Turkey from Europe as a member of the Peace Group on the call of the Kurdish Leader Abdullah Öcalan in 1999, but was arrested in the scope of KCK operations, has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which advances in 4 stages. Doğan has been diagnosed to be at the 3rd stage of the illness.

The peace envoy jailed in Diyarbakır E Type prison had been suffering from an illness which has not been diagnosed for 2 months. She was recently referred to the Oncology Unit of Ankara Zekai Tahir Burak Women’s Health Training and Research Hospital where finally she has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Doğan was operated on Wednesday and the tumours were removed, however she continues to be in critical condition as her illness advanced over other parts of her body. With doctors saying that she must urgently be taken under chemotherapy treatment, her lawyers will apply to the Supreme Court for her release.

Doğan was arrested during the KCK operations that the AKP government started in April 2009 targeting thousands of Kurdish politicians. She is one of the few persons still imprisoned within the scope of the KCK trials.

Doğan has spent 17 years in prisons in Turkey at different times. She was first arrested during the military coup in 1980 after she graduated from Gazi University in Ankara. She became an independent candidate from Dersim in 1991 after she was released from prison years later. She received a majority of the votes in Dersim but could not be a parliamentarian because of the undemocratic election law in Turkey. Doğan had to take refuge in Germany as she faced repression and threats after the elections.

She took part in the second Peace Group that came from Europe to Turkey on the call of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999. She was arrested on her return to Turkey with the other group members and was sentenced to 10 years. She stayed for 10 years in prisons in Malatya and Elbistan and was released in 2009. She moved to her hometown Dersim upon her release and founded the Dersim Alevi Faith and Culture Academy. She was arrested again because of her work in Dersim on 28 September 2011 in the scope of the KCK operations. She was this time sentenced to 18 years in prison. She took part in the second group holding a hunger strike that was started by the PKK and PJAK prisoners in Autumn 2012 demanding an end to the isolation of the Kurdish Leader Öcalan.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ordered the retrial of Aysel Doğan due to a change in the law, but she was not released despite the court deciding that she had previously not been tried justly. She has been in prison now for 4 years. Aysel Doğan has been ill for some time, but her sister Menşure Doğan says she did not want to bring her illness to the fore as there are hundreds of sick prisoners in Turkey and therefore she kept it to herself. Menşure Doğan says the hunger strike had irreversible effects on her health, adding that she did not receive treatment despite the prison administration knowing about her illness. Menşure Doğan criticized the attitude of the state and prison administrations towards sick prisoners, calling it another form of torture.