Letter From Kani Yilmaz

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: kcc at magi.com (Kurdistan Committee of Canada)

Open Letter From Kani Yilmaz, Kurdish Political Prisoner

     The hungerstrike started by 10,000 prisoners of war in
Turkish prisons on July 14, 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 hungerstrikers 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 all those involved in the
struggle and for those Western states who are supposedly
interested in democratic proposals.
     The suffocated voices of the hungerstrikers 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 - July 26, 1995

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Kurdistan Committee of Canada		Tel: (613) 733-9634
2487 Kaladar Ave. Suite 203		Fax: (613) 733-0090
Ottawa, Ontario, K1V 8B9		E-mail: kcc at magi.com
		http://infoweb.magi.com/~kcc
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