The petition campaign TJK-E launched on Friday, demanding the immediate establishment of communication with Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, Turkey’s implementation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and respect for the rights of prisoners, gains momentum. Until last night, hundreds of hunger strikers from the Shengal Diaspora Assembly signed the petition to be sent to the CPT. TJK-E had launched the petition campaign in parallel with the indefinite and irreversible hunger strike the Shengal Diaspora Assembly had organized in Strasbourg in order to call upon the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to take immediate action for Öcalan. Hundreds of people have already participated in the TJK-E campaign, which was launched on Friday.

The signed petitions will be mailed to the CPT tomorrow, and people of Kurdistan and Turkey in different parts of Europe will continue to send their petitions, which are in English and French.

The TJK-E petition emphasized that Öcalan has been under intensified isolation since April 2015, that concerns over Öcalan’s health have increased after the coup attempt on July 15, and that the Turkish government continues to isolate Öcalan.

The petition notes that the Ezidi Kurdish administrators of the Shengal Diaspora Assembly have organized the indefinite and irreversible hunger strike in order to pressure European institutions to take action, and underlines the TJK-E support for the strike.

Lastly, the petition includes a call to institutions and women in Europe and the following demands:

- CPT’s immediate visit to İmralı Island and declaration of a report on this visit,

- Turkey’s implementation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which it had suspended,

- Respect for the fundamental rights of political prisoners in İmralı and other prisons,

- Respect for Öcalan’s right to meet with his family and lawyers.