The parliamentary group leader of the Alternative List, Andreas Kirstein, brought the Kurdish hunger strikes against the isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan to the agenda of Zurich City Parliament.

Kirstein spoke about the ongoing Kurdish hunger strike campaign and sharply pointed out the silence on this resistance as the activists are already in critical conditions. Referring to the sacrifice actions carried out by prisoners who ended their lives to protest against the isolation, he said; “These people resort to this action not because they were tired of life but in order to protest the insensitivity and silence and the Turkish state’s attitude on hunger strikes.

“The hunger strike deserves our support”

The Swiss MP noted that thousands of people are joining the hunger strike resistance in Turkey, Kurdistan, Europe and all around the world. Their sole demand is the end of the isolation on Mr. Öcalan. This form of action may not be understood or approved by many of you, but the hunger strike resistance is a historical tradition for the Kurdish movement and Turkish leftist movement members in Turkish prisons. For this reason, the hunger strike action carried out today deserves our support.”

Kirstein addressed the following remarks to the members of the Parliament; “I hope that my words here today will lead to breaking the wall of silence around us and I hope that we will act to support these people. We can legitimize our solidarity with the Kurdish people with parliamentary decisions on what is going on in Turkey. moreover, Amed is the twin municipality of Zurich.”

Stressing that Zurich City Parliament should pressure the Federal Council of Switzerland to act against Turkey, the Swiss MP added; “The Federal Council of Switzerland should pressure Turkey to respect the rule of law and answer the demands of hunger strikers. In the event that Turkey does not answer our calls, the Council should threaten to close Turkey's diplomatic representations in Switzerland and especially in Zurich.”