Raoul Jaeggi, Swiss Jura canton MP and Haute-Sorne municipality councillor, talked to ANF about the ongoing hunger strikes demanding the end of isolation of Kurdish People's Leader, Abdullah Öcalan.

Reminding that DTK co-chair and HDP Hakkari MP Leyla Güven is on the 108th day of her hunger strike against isolation, Jaeggi said: “I can express my thoughts on Turkey. First and foremost it is unacceptable that people in Turkey are thrown into prison because of their political thinking. This is a shocking situation for us. People are arrested because of their political thoughts, and are deprived of their rights in prison. This has nothing to do with democracy and cannot be accepted.”

Isolation cannot be accepted

Underlining that the isolation of Öcalan cannot be accepted, Jeaggi said: “Although I do not know the practices imposed on Öcalan very well, it is unacceptable to keep him under isolation and to deprive him of its rights. Nobody should be in prison because of their political views. Beyond that, it is not right for a person who is seen as a leader to be isolated.”

Jaeggi said that the hunger strikes led by Leyla Güven is a very important and meaningful action.

Describing Erdoğan as a dictator, Jaeggi said: “Yes, Erdoğan won the elections with a remarkable vote. But it does not change the fact that he is a dictator. Elections are sometimes made to legitimize a dictator. There are many examples of this in history.”

PKK should not be in European terrorist organisations list

Jaeggi said that “although European states regard the PKK as a ‘terrorist’ organization, the European public opinion does not share this argument. For the people of Europe, the PKK is not a terrorist organization. The most important force fighting ISIS in the Middle East have been the Kurds, nobody can deny it. But unfortunately we did not talk much about this situation in Europe. The PKK still remains on the list of terrorist organisations, meaning that it has been sacrificed to political and economic interests. Europe should end this contradiction and remove the PKK from this list.”

Arms sale to Turkey should end

Jaeggi said: “Switzerland does not sell arms to countries which are involved in a civil war. Turkey is targeting Kurds across the border into Syrian territory today. This is an indication that Turkey is targeting civilians. I think Switzerland should completely stop arms sales to Turkey.”