The indefinite rotating hunger strike launched in prisons against the prison conditions and the isolation on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan is on its 124th day.  Doctor Zeki Gül, who has been in the struggle under the roof of the Turkish Medical Association and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey since 1995, and has been monitoring  prisons for 20 years, evaluated hunger strikes to the Mesopotamia Agency (MA).

 

ISOLATION WITHIN ISOLATION 

 

Gül stated that to be able to express themselves in prisons, it is necessary to understand and respect those who started the hunger strike and stated that there is isolation within isolation in prisons with the pandemic. Pointing out that the strict isolation applied in F-Type Closed Prisons has deepened even more with the pandemic, Gül said: "This is why their lives have become more difficult, prisons have been shaped with a new understanding of isolation."  Many of their rights were restricted, especially the right to meet with each other, with their families and lawyers. There is no second penalty legally, but they were punished for the second time with the violation of these rights. It is necessary to understand that under these circumstances that they go on a hunger strike."

 

DATA IS NOT SHARED 

 

Stating that not giving information will create a problem of confidence in the community with Covid-19 cases increasing, Dr. Gül continued as follows: "I looked at the web pages of institutions such as Directorate General of Prisons and Detention Houses, Human Rights Association and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. There is almost no data on the Covid-19 cases in prisons. There are more than 300 prisons. However, there are no records of Covid cases in prisons as if there is no pandemic in prisons.

 

THEY ARE AT RISK 

 

Stating that going on a hunger strike under the conditions of pandemic increases the risk, Gül continued: "In the pandemic, people took various vitamin supplements to strengthen the body without consulting a doctor. On the other hand, there are poeple who went on a hunger strike because their demands were not met and they cannot find any other method to be heard. In these conditions, body resistance is extremely weakened. Especially after 60 days, their immune systems become extremely fragile. They are more likely to get the Covid-19 virus. Therefore, it is necessary to take their demands very seriously. They are saying something to society with their bodies, they are trying to complete what we cannot do, what we lack, and our despairs, by producing something. This must be a problem for everyone in the society."

 

NOT HEARING THEM CAUSES SOCIAL DECAY

 

Gül continued as follows: "The feeling of not being with them creates the feeling of inadequacy. This is a social trauma and has a reflection on everybody. Most importantly, it causes decay. It spreads to all areas of life. Therefore, it is not only limited to those who are on hunger strike and those who are sensitive to them. Because they are trying to express that we cannot do."

 

REFLECTION ON SOCIETY

 

Dr. Gül mentioned that those whose children are on hunger strike are concerned and this has spread to all areas of life and said: "Desperation causes physical and psychological problems in each of their relatives, to those who worry about this issue, and those who act as they do not exist. It should be said to those who run the country that when no solution is produced, there might be much greater social reactions. The basic human approach should be to seek solutions to the problem. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health should listen to them before it is too late."

 

MA/ Sevda Aydın - Naci Kaya