Families of detainees: We must rise up to support hunger strikers inside Turkish prisons

The hunger strike campaign that political prisoners inside Turkish prisons continues, since November 27, 2020, with the aim of lifting the strict isolation on leader Abdullah Ocalan and ending the violations against detainees.

In this regard, ANHA correspondent in Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood interviewed the families of two political prisoners who are participating in the hunger strike campaign in Turkish prisons.

The mother of the political prisoner, Kamiran Bakr Rashid, Fatima Doyko, said that her son was arrested 28 years ago, and during these years the Turkish authorities transferred him to several prisons in Turkey in an arbitrary manner, and now he is in Polo Prison.

Kamiran Bakr Rashid comes from the village of Haj Khalil in Rajo district in the occupied Afrin canton, and has been arrested since 1993 in Turkey, and is now detained in prison in Polo, located between Istanbul and Ankara, and a participant in the hunger strike campaign.

"My son, along with his companions, has gone on a hunger strike campaign for more than 150 days inside the prison, as a result of violations by the Turkish authorities against them, and to end the strict isolation imposed on leader Abdullah Ocalan in Imrali prison," said Fatma Doyko.

'We are fighting for our leader's freedom, our cause, and our identity.'

She pointed out that the resistance of the hunger strikers did not weaken in the face of Turkish violations, and said, "They are resisting in order to reach the freedom of leader Ocalan," adding: "We, the Kurds, will fight for the freedom of our leader, our cause, our language and our identity."

She noted that the Turkish state by tightening isolation aims to control the Kurdish people, eliminate their will and weaken them, adding: " the Kurdish people, however, will not be a slave to anyone, and they will resist this fascist mentality with the thought and philosophy of the leader Ocalan."

The mother of the detainee, Kamiran, Fatima Doyko, called on the Kurdish people to rise up in support of the prison resistance and intensify activities. “By their resistance, isolation will be lifted and the freedom of Leader Ocalan will be achieved from Imrali prison.”

Historic resistance

As for the sister of the detainee Muhammad Rashid Rasho, Aytan Rasho, at the beginning of her speech to our agency, she denounced the tight isolation on leader Abdullah Ocalan and “the Turkish authorities’ violations against political detainees in Turkish prisons.”

The detainee, Muhammad Rashid Rasho, comes from the occupied Afrin canton, has been arrested since 2017 by the Turkish authorities and sentenced to 36 years in prison, on charges of political activity.

Aytan Rasho indicated that the resistance of political prisoners who are participating in the hunger strike campaign assures the Kurdish people that their resistance is stronger than the Turkish state policy, explaining that "this resistance is a historical resistance."

The sister of the detainee, Muhammad Rasho, criticized the silence of human rights organizations about what political detainees are exposed to at the hands of the Turkish authorities, and said: “What Turkey is doing is a violation of international laws, and they must play their humanitarian and moral role and release the detainees.”

In the conclusion of her speech, she said that the goal of the Turkish state in tightening the leader isolation in order to strike the project of the democratic nation that does not serve the interests of Turkey because it represents all peoples of the Middle East.

J.O

ANHA