Kurdish musician Þývan Perwer has started hunger strike in front of Federal Kurdistan Region Parliament in Hewler on Friday to display solidarity with ten thousand hunger strikers in Turkey prisons.

Perwer is accompanied by a group of people demanding the ending of solitary confinement of Abdullah Öcalan. Music productor Hakan Akkaya is also taking part in the hunger strike.

The press statement on behalf of the group was read by Þývan Perwer who underlined that a language and education in mother tongue cannot be subjected to bans.

“Their demands are our demands and they must be fulfilled before we witness deaths”, said Perwer who also called attention to the isolation imposed on the ‘national leader of Kurdish people’, pointing out that the denial of his meeting with his lawyers and family violates both domestic and international law.

The hunger strike in Hewler is expected to be joined by more people in the coming days as no date has been stated as to how long it will last.