URU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 130: Henvendelse af 28. februar 2019 om solidaritet med Leyla Güvens sultestrejke i protest mod isolering af Abdullah Öcalan

Udenrigsudvalget 2018-19 (1. samling)
URU Alm.del Bilag 130
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Urgent call for strengthening international solidarity with Leyla Güven

The all letter y our i e o hair Mr. Hişyar Özsoy to the parlia e taria s a d politi al parties a ross the

world for solidarity with Ms. Leyla Güven who is on the 113rd day of her hunger strike to protest the

isolation of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan.

After almost one-year pretrial detention, HDP MP Ms. Leyla Güven was released on 25 January 2019, on

the 79th day of the hunger strike that she had started in protest of the absolute isolation of Mr. Abdullah

Ö ala at the İ ralı Isla d Priso . After her release Leyla

said that she would not end her hunger strike until

her demand was met. She basically demands Turkish authorities to implement the CPT recommendations

on the issue (endorsed in a recent resolution of the PACE on the situation of politicians in Turkey) and allow

Mr Ö ala ’s fa ily e ers a d la yers to regularly isit hi i priso .

At least 313 prisoners and several politicians have joined the hunger strike across Turkish prisons and

abroad. 14 Kurdish politicians and activists, including a former HDP MP, have been on hunger strike in

Strasbourg since 17 December 2018. Ms Sebahat Tuncel, co-chair of Democratic Regions Party (DBP), and

Ms Selma Irmak, former HDP MP and co-chair of the banned Democratic Society Party (DTP), also joined

the hunger strike on 15 January 2018 from Kandira High Security Prison. All of the 46 prisoners who joined

the hunger strike on 16 December 2018 are in critical condition. All of them have received disciplinary

punishments or investigations for their strike and many of them are kept in solitary confinement. The

hunger strikers in prisons are usually denied B1 vitamins and carbonate that they need to take on a daily

basis. Lawyers, family members and human rights organizations have also reported torture and

mistreatment of the hunger strikers.

O Mar h 1st Leyla’s hu ger strike ill rea h 114 days. Although her health is i riti al o ditio , she

refuses medical treatment. Despite the sheer unlawfulness of the policy of isolation, most of the

international community has chose

to re ai li d a d deaf to Leyla’s protest. Isolatio of Mr Ö ala or

any other prisoner from their lawyers and family members is both unlawful and politically wrong. The

termination of this isolation will not only end the hunger strikes and return Leyla and others to life; but may

also help to reinitiate democratic dialogue and resume the peace process in the context of the Kurdish

issue.

We hereby call upon political leaders and parliamentarians, especially the women, to urgently organize

visits to Leyla Güven towards strengthening international solidarity on the issue.

Peace and solidarity,

Hişyar Özsoy

Vice co-chair of the HDP Responsible for Foreign Affairs

MP for Diyar akır

28 February 2019