Kurdish Hungerstrike Is Over

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

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

Hungerstrike Of 10,000 Kurdish Prisoners Successfully Concluded 

     The hungerstrike launched by 10,000 Kurdish prisoners in
Turkish jails on July 14, 1995 was concluded on August 20 having
achieved significant worldwide interest.
     The hungerstrike commemorated once again the resistance of
Hayri Durmus, Kemal Pir, Ali Cicek, and Akif Yilmaz, who made the
supreme sacrifice, and their comrades who launched a hungerstrike
on July 14, 1982 against Turkey's policy of denial of Kurdish
identity and its savage repression.
     The hungerstrike lasted for 35 days and was supported by
hungerstrikes in HADEP and other offices all over Turkey, and by
solidarity hungerstrikes by Kurdish people all over Europe, the
Middle East, North America, and Australia.
     Amongst the hungerstrikers' demands were that the Turkish
army end its dirty war in Kurdistan and comply with the Geneva
Conventions. Relatives of the prisoners and  democrats in Turkey
and Kurdistan and in diaspora united around these demands.     
During the hungerstrike, 4 people died: Fesih Beyazcicek, Gulnaz
Baghistani, Remzi Altintas, and Latife Kaya. Our hungerstrike and
its martyrs will go down in history as a great resistance. The
determination of the Kurdish people and their refusal to be cowed
by police attacks has demonstrated the Kurdish people's devotion
and belief in freedom.
     The hostile attitude of the German police to the Kurdish
hungerstrikers has exposed German-Turkish collaboration in the
war against the Kurdish people. But the repressive attitude of
the police only served to make the Kurdish people offer more
solidarity to the hungerstrikers.
     Following the successful resolution of the hungerstrike, we
would like to thank our people, all friends of the Kurdish
people, and all organizations and individuals who showed
solidarity with the hungerstrike.

Solidarity Bureau - Brussels
August 20, 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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