ISTANBUL - Fince Akman, the prisoner's relative at the Justice Watch, stated that the guards forced them to "speak Turkish" during the meeting in the prison.

 

The hunger strike that has been started in prisons since November 27, as part of the worldwide campaign continues to ensure the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is held in absolute isolation in Imralı Type F High Security Closed Prison and has never been heard from. During this period, various human rights violations against prisoners on hunger strike increased day by day. In an open meeting with her prisoner son Yakup Akman in Marmara High Security Prison on March 14, prisoner relative Fince Akman said that the clothes and money she sent to her son were not given and that she was given solitary confinement for arbitrary reasons.

 

'SPEAK TURKISH' IMPORCEMENT

 

Akman said that her son went on a hunger strike for the freedom of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and was subjected to many rights violations because of this. Akman said:  “It takes months for the goods and money we send to reach them. When I go to the meeting, the prison administration forces us to 'speak Turkish'. This is a crime. There has been no news of Abdullah Ocalan for 3 years. Neither his lawyers nor his family can communicate in any way. Our children say, 'Abdullah Ocalan is our will and we will not stop the hunger strike until we receive news from our leader.' Here we renew our demand once again. We will continue our protest until the leadership is free and the prisoners stop hunger strike."

 

'WE WILL DEFEND OUR CASE'

 

Criticizing the AKP-MHP government's policies towards the Kurds, Akman continued as follows: “Abdullah Ocalan is isolated because he wants the status and identity of the Kurds to be recognized. Abdullah Ocalan says, 'We are not anyone's work and we have never accepted captivity.' We are a people with a population of 50, 60 million in the world. It is not very difficult for the state to see this, they must look back at the Newroz areas held in the cities of Kurdistan and Turkey. Millions of people in those areas wanted Abdullah Ocalan's freedom and once again expressed their loyalty to him. We know very well that until there is a single Kurd left in the world, we will defend this just and legitimate cause.”

 

'WE WILL CARRY THE STRUGGLE TO EVERY FIELD'

 

Underlining that the prisoners on hunger strike will be in the fields until their demands are met, Akman concluded her words as follows; “Many of us have been sued for participating in the justice watch. We do not want anyone to die, we do not damage anyone's property. We want to live humanely, we want the isolation imposed on Mr. Ocalan and our children to end. The world and international institutions remain silent on this situation. If our children die in these prisons tomorrow, who will be held accountable for this? We will never accept this situation. We will do whatever we have to do for this. If necessary, we will take our protests to prisons, to the streets everywhere, and we will not stop fighting."