Open Letter From Kani Yilmaz, Kurdi

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Open Letter From Kani Yilmaz, Kurdish Political Prisoner

Open Letter From Kani Yilmaz, Kurdish Political Prisoner

     The hunger strike started by 10,000 prisoners of war in
Turkish prisons on 14 July 1995 has grown in strength and numbers.
Supported by our own people in Kurdistan and abroad, and by
democratic people in European prisons, the hungerstrike is becoming
an irresistible cry for freedom.
     The demands of the hunger strikers are proposals for a
political solution to the Kurdish question, based on recent appeals
from the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah
Ocalan. This is a message of immense importance not only for
Kurdish and Turkish people, but for those involved in the struggle
and for those Western states who a supposedly interested in
democratic proposals.
     The suffocated voices of the hunger strikers are at last being
heard. This desperate course of action has been initiated by the
Kurdish people and day by day grows stronger. The fact that 10,000
people in Turkish jails are on hungerstrike has been supressed by
the Turkish media. The general public is not yet aware what is
happening. Recent history has shown us that such repressive regimes
as Turkey will destroy themselves. South Africa could not sustain
such repressive polices. Change will be slow, although important
political reforms have been made.
     What sort of future does the Turkish state offer the Kurdish
people? A future without a home? Without land? A future without
hope? Without a voice, a powerless, feeble future. It murders and
says it does not. It allows no solution but intensifies its own
murderous actions. History shows us this is a dangerous attitude.
For this reason the voices from the prisons must be listened to.
     By responding to the appeal of PKK Prisoners of War, and by
actively taking part ourselves I would like to say that we firmly
believe that all our people will support us and act accordingly, so
that all voices will be raised together in an insuppresable demand
for freedom.
     All international institutions, states and humanitarian bodies
must listen to this profound cry from the dark shadows of Turkish
prisons. The public must know and be allowed to support us. They
have to know that the Turkish state has sentenced the Kurdish
nation to annihilation; to being a homeless nameless people. They
must know that in Turkey a Kurd is called a Turk, denied his or her
own identity. They must know that the Turkish state rips apart
Kurdish skin and bones under torture, that prisons are turned into
death camps, that every day Kurds are kidnapped and murdered, that
military forces mutilate and violate the bodies of captured
guerrillas, degrading and humiliating themselves in the process.
     To decide the fate of the Kurdish people in this manner is a
shame on humanity. It must not be allowed to continue. The
unbridled terror of the Turkish state, with its army and media
machine must be curtailed.
     The just and legitimate demands of our people, as laid out in
the proposals of the President of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, must be
responded to. The voices from the prisons must be conveyed to the
outside world, with our help.
     The Turkish state has turned our country into a sea of blood,
now is the time for all voices of opposition to ring out! I have
myself, only yesterday, refused my first food. The Kurdish people
will have victory with dignity and pride.

Yours in solidarity, Kani Yilmaz, Belmarsh Prison. 26th July 95.


 ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
   ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
     ++++ see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++

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Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist collective based
in Toronto, Canada. Our focus includes a wide variety of
material, including political prisoners, national liberation
struggles, armed communist resistance, anti-fascism, the fight
against patriarchy, and more. We regularly publish our writings,
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called Arm The Spirit. For more information, contact:

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