A mass hunger strike in Turkey has entered a critical stage. Despite a recent gesture by Ankara, the strikers, mostly Kurdish inmates, have refused to end the protest launched to denounce the isolation of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Thousands of prisoners have joined the hunger strike since early November, when the first striker — Leyla Guven, a lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) — began the protest while in prison. Guven has continued her hunger strike at home since her conditional release in late January. Three other lawmakers are among about 60 people who have joined the hunger strike outside prison, while the overwhelming majority — estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 people — are behind bars, including 15 inmates who announced their protest would continue to their deaths if necessary at the end of April.
On May 2, Ankara allowed two of Ocalan’s lawyers to see him on the prison island of Imrali, where the PKK leader has been serving a life sentence since 1999. It was the first such meeting in eight years that saw the rejection of no less than 810 requests. Ocalan’s relatives have faced similar restrictions. His brother was allowed to visit him in January after two and a half years.
In a message relayed by the attorneys, Ocalan urged the hunger strikers not to take their actions to a point that threatens their health or results in death. But the strike did not end, with many convinced that one meeting does not mean an end to Ocalan’s isolation. A second group of 15 inmates declared their protest a “death fast” on May 10. So far, the protest has claimed eight lives, including seven people in prison and another who committed self-immolation in Germany.
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