• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
  • WORLD DEMOCRACY
  • POLITICAL ART
  • more
    • election technology
    • money politics
    • political dissidents
    • THIRD PARTY
      • third party central
      • green party
      • justice party
      • libertarian party
    • voting methods
  • DC INFO
    • author central
    • about
    • advertise with DC
    • contact
    • privacy policy

Democracy Chronicles

Turkey Inmates End Own Lives to Protest Kurdish Leader’s Treatment

by DC Editors - March 28, 2019

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Inmates End Own Lives to Protest Rebel Kurdish Leader's Treatment in Turkey

From Voice Of America

At least four Kurdish activists have died in prisons across Turkey since last week, in what lawyers and officials have called suicides over the poor prison conditions of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The series of alleged suicides by Kurdish prisoners started on March 17 when Kurdish officials confirmed that Zulkuf Gezen took his own life, followed by the deaths of Ayten Becet and Zehra Saglam by similar attempts last weekend. Officials of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) also confirmed on Monday the death of the fourth Kurdish activist, 24-year-old inmate Medya Cinar.

“Today, those who refused to listen to us caused the death of the fourth prisoner,” HDP co-chair Sezai Temelli said during a public gathering Monday in Adana.

“For 139 days, we have been calling on the Ministry of Justice and the government to end this lawlessness,” Temelli said to a crowd of supporters, referring to a widespread hunger strike campaign by Kurdish prisoners since November.

“We say that their demands must be fulfilled without deaths,” he added.

The four deaths have prompted demonstrations from thousands of Kurds in Turkey, northern Syria and some parts of Europe.

The four activists had been in prison for years over alleged ties to PKK — a U.S., EU and Turkey-designated terrorist organization. Before ending their lives this month, they joined in the hunger strike that initially began in November 2018 to pressure Turkish authorities into giving more access to Ocalan.

The rebel leader has been imprisoned on an island in the Marmara Sea since 1999. He has been prevented from meeting with his lawyers since 2011, and has rarely been allowed to see his family.

The hunger strikes over his jail conditions were first initiated by HDP lawmaker Leyla Guven last November. Since then, an estimated 300 Kurdish lawmakers and activists across Turkey have joined.

Turkish officials have refused to yield to the strikers’ requests, calling their activities an attempt by the HDP to stir up trouble in the country and spread pro-PKK propaganda.

“I do not call them deputies [representatives]. They are the PKK’s deputies,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said last week, referring to Kurdish HDP lawmakers in the Turkish parliament.

Burial, clashes

Speaking to a crowd of the ruling Justice and Development Party supporters in Nevsehir city, Soylu condemned HDP officials for attempting to organize a solidarity meeting at the burial site of Gezen.

“The other day, a terrorist died in prison. They wanted to meet and join the burial of the terrorist in Diyarbakir. I called the police chief and told him, ‘Do not allow anyone to be near the airport. Do not allow anyone to be within one kilometer of the cemetery.’ That is impossible for us to tolerate,” Soylu told the crowd as reported by local Turkish media outlets.

The burial ceremony, which took place last Monday and was attended by dozens of people, ended in violent clashes when police fired a water cannon to disperse the supporters. According to pro-Kurdish ANF News, several HDP lawmakers were barred from entering Diyarbakir cemetery where Gezen was buried.

PKK ‘wing’

Government officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have repeatedly accused the HDP of being the political wing of the PKK.

The militant PKK group has been demanding Kurdish autonomy in Turkey since 1978.

Violent clashes between Turkey and the PKK have continued for more than 30 years in predominately Kurdish southeast, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people.

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Filed Under: International Democracy Tagged With: Kurdish People, Middle East, Political Dissidents, Turkey

About DC Editors

We are your source for news on the all important effort to establish and strengthen democracy across the globe. Our international team with dozens of independent authors are your gateway into the raging struggle for free and fair elections on every continent with a focus on election reform in the United States. See our Facebook Page and also follow us on Twitter @demchron.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home | ALL NEWS | WORLD | Turkey Inmates End Own Lives to Protest Kurdish Leader’s Treatment

Primary Sidebar

Advertise button

A Dangerous Reprise Of American Exceptionalism In Ukraine

By Jamie Lampidis May 15, 2022

The stakes are too high to cave into Putin’s phantasmatic imperial play, and too high to believe that this war can be won by arming Ukrainians.

On The Coming End Of Roe v. Wade

By Peter J. Dellolio May 11, 2022

Anyone who says that the evolution of law has nothing to do with politics is either very corrupt or very stupid. Laws evolved through the centuries.

democracy chronicles newsletter

DC AUTHORS

Goodbye Roe v. Wade, Goodbye Rule Of Law

By Andrew Straw May 5, 2022

Congress should impeach judges who act like that because it is not good behavior, and they were asked not to act that way when they were confirmed.

PODCAST: Debating The Future Of Debates

By Jenna Spinelle May 4, 2022

We love a good debate — and have certainly had plenty of them on this show. But how effective are they in today’s media and political landscape?

What “Pro-Palestine” Student Groups Get Wrong

By David Anderson, J.D. May 3, 2022

Back then – as now – this fit into a “colonialist” narrative of European Jews oppressing Arabs – an easy, eye pleasing but intellectually lazy fit.

Examining Government As A “Necessary Evil”

By Gary Berton April 29, 2022

Thomas Paine defines government as separate from society, and indeed if society functioned perfectly there would be no need for government.

Ukrainian And Polish History: Fighting The Empires

By Maxim Sidorenko April 26, 2022

On February 24th, Russia started an unprovoked war against Ukraine. It has become one more attempt of the empire to demolish the Ukrainian state.

PODCAST: What Student Debt Says About Democratic Institutions

By Jenna Spinelle April 26, 2022

In a new book, Josh Mitchell draws alarming parallels to the housing crisis, showing the catastrophic consequences student debt has had on families.

Aging White Men Who Commit Voter Fraud Have Nothing To Fear

By Steve Schneider April 22, 2022

The sentences stand in contrast with the actions of the Governor who recently got the state legislature to create an election integrity police force.

MORE FROM OUR AUTHORS

VISIT OUR POLITICAL ART SECTION:

dc political art

DEMOCRACY CULTURE

Kenyan 'Cartooning For Peace' To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

Kenyan ‘Cartooning For Peace’ To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

May 17, 2022

Cartooning is an art that has been playing a major role in illustrating stories in different ways, from health to politics, and even sports.

Anxious Leaders Influence Their Followers' Anxiety, Even Online

Anxious Leaders Influence Their Followers’ Anxiety, Even Online

May 17, 2022

Organizational leader’s tweets can influence employee anxieties and this effect is more prominent since the rise of COVID-19, study.

North Korea Cracks Down On 'Capitalist' Pop Culture

North Korea Cracks Down On ‘Capitalist’ Pop Culture

May 6, 2022

North Korea has increased its campaign against “capitalist” style clothing, others, in broader crackdown on foreign pop culture.

DiCaprio, Ruffalo Urge Brazilians To Vote, Irking Bolsonaro

DiCaprio, Ruffalo Urge Brazilians To Vote, Irking Bolsonaro

May 6, 2022

Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo joined other celebrities making a final push for voters in Brazil to register to vote.

Mock M&M Election Teaches Alaskans About Ranked Voting

Mock M&M Election Teaches Alaskans About Ranked Voting

April 26, 2022

There are paper cups with eight different kinds of M&M near the entrance to Amalga Distillery in Juneau for a mock ranked choice vote.

MORE CULTURE

VISIT OUR US DEMOCRACY SECTION:

American Democracy