Kurdish hunger strikes

Submitted by Matthew on 14 November, 2012 - 7:47

Istanbul branches of the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party, the main Kurdish nationalist party in Turkey) held sit-ins, and other direct actions on 10 November, in solidarity with Kurdish political prisoners who have been on hunger strike since 12 September.

More than 700 prisoners in 60 prisons have been participating in the strike. On 9 November, leading figures in the BDP – including four MPs — joined the strike in solidarity. Large demonstrations and other direct actions have taken place in the Kurdish provinces of Turkey, including a student strike and “boycott” (i.e. shops not opening for the day) on 30 October. These actions have been met with severe repression from the Turkish police.

The Turkish socialist group Marksist Tutum (“Marxist Attitude”) writes: “It has to be clearly underlined: the hunger strike stems ultimately from the deadlock in the Kurdish question. This action is a new outcry of the Kurdish people for freedom, this time rising from dungeons.

“In a most demonstrative way, the hunger strikers advance simple and clear demands that can open the way for a solution to the deadlock in Kurdish question.”

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