PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) and PAJK (Kurdistan Women’s Liberation Party) prisoners in Turkish jails are going on a hunger strike today in solidarity with the resistance against the ongoing attacks of ISIS gangs on the Kobanê town of West Kurdistan, Rojava, and in protest against the AKP government’s stance towards Kobanê.

Deniz Kaya issued a statement at the weekend on behalf of the prisoners, saying: "we will continue our hunger strike as long as the threat of genocide hangs over Kobanê, as long as the AKP-ISIS collaboration continues and until the AKP government opens an aid corridor to Rojava. If our demands are not met, we will radicalise our action.”

Kaya stressed the heroic nature of the resistance by the YPG/YPJ in Kobanê, adding that the revolution in Rojava and its heart, Kobanê, offers an alternative model to the Middle East. Kaya said the capitalist states wished to throttle the Rojava revolution, as they do not recognise any alternative, adding: “everyone knows that ISIS are murderous gangs nourished by international forces, in particular Turkey. ISIS was created in order to bring chaos to the Middle East and destroy democratic dynamics. The aim of the coalition set up to combat ISIS is not to destroy it, but to use it for its own ends.”

The statement continued, emphasising that the Kobanê resistance had demonstrated the hypocrisy of international forces and the lack of sincerity of the AKP government in the process of resolution. “If the AKP government does not want Kobanê to fall, it must recognise the PYD and the status of Rojava and open an aid corridor. The Kurdish people are not pleading with the AKP for assistance, but calling on it to abandon its stance towards Rojava. The Rojava revolution is the Kurdistan revolution and Kobanê is the heart of that revolution. Attacks on Kobanê are an attack on the whole of Kurdistan and all the Kurds. The AKP should realise this and abandon its policies."

The statement continued, calling on the Kurdish people to step up their solidarity with the heroic resistance in Kobanê, adding: "As PAJK and PKK prisoners, we declare our solidarity with the YPG and YPJ fighters, and announce we are launching a hunger strike to condemn the AKP-ISIS collaboration, the AKP police’s hostile attitude to our people’s uprising, and will continue this action as long as the threat of genocide hangs over Kobanê, as long as the AKP-ISIS collaboration continues and until the AKP government opens an aid corridor to Rojava. If our demands are not met, we will radicalise our action.”

Deniz Kaya said that they would send letters and faxes detailing their demands to the President, Ministry of Justice, and international bodies during the hunger strike.