Turkish Kurds demand better conditions for imprisoned political leader, 2018-2019

Kurdistan is a geographic region that encompasses portions of Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Türkiye (Turkey). This mountainous land is home to the Middle East’s fourth largest ethnic group – the Kurds. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1922, the victorious Allied powers drafted the Treaty of Sevres, partitioning what used to be the Ottoman Empire into new divisions . Signatories promised a referendum to determine what would become of Kurdish aspirations for an autonomous state. However, the newly-created Turkish state rejected the Treaty of Sevres and re-negotiated the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. This updated treaty granted Türkiye the Anatolian peninsula with no mention of a recognized Kurdish homeland. 

For the past century, Kurdish-Turkish relations have been a near-constant point of contention and bloodshed. In the 1920s, Turkiye began instituting a policy of “Turkification,” which forced ethnic and cultural homogenization upon non-Turkic groups, who found themselves within Turkiye’s freshly-established borders. These tactics included burning Kurdish villages, mass murder of Kurdish civilians, criminalization of the Kurdish language, forced displacement of Kurdish civilians, and denial of the equal status of Kurds in the eyes of the law. The legacy of this violence is woven into the historical fabric of the nation – but the 1970s through 2010s were further complicated by new political groups, armed insurgencies, and foreign war.In the late 1970’s, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê, or the PKK), materialized as a Marxist insurgent group fighting for Kurdish independence from Türkiye. The violent campaign lasted for 15 years, until Turkish police arrested and sentenced one of its co-founders, Abdullah Öcalan, to life imprisonment for terrorist activities. From 1999 to 2013, the PKK and the Turkish government engaged in secret peace talks. The negotiations transformed into an official peace process in 2013, but they ended only two years later. After 2015, fighting re-escalated and became even more complicated. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) – a limb of the PKK – became involved in the Syrian civil war, and Turkish domestic policy intensified crackdowns on pro-Kurdish politicians and journalists.

Police first jailed politician Leyla Güven in January 2018 for her criticisms of the Turkish military’s actions in Afrin, northern Syria – a majority-Kurdish town. Güven was a Member of Parliament (MEP) affiliated with the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP). The Turkish government made accusations that both the HDP and the Democratic Society Congress (which she co-led) were connected to the PKK. Güven began a hunger strike on 8 November, 2018, her diet consisting of only liquid and B vitamins. The day before she began her strike, at the third hearing of her criminal case, she announced her intention to hold the strike, as well as her refusal to submit further defense to the court. However, Güven’s demands were not for her own release, or anyone’s for that matter. Rather, Güven called for the Turkish government to end the solitary confinement of Abdullah Öcalan . The PKK co-founder was currently serving a life sentence on Türkiye’s secluded island prison Imrali. 

According to Güven and her supporters, Türkiye held Öcalan under conditions that violated international human rights law – specifically, the Mandela Rules. This doctrine states that isolation without human contact for over 22 hours a day over a period of more than 15 consecutive days constitutes prolonged solitary confinement. Turkish police did not allow Öcalan to speak with his family or lawyers in-person, over the phone, or through letters. Öcalan’s lawyers submitted over 750 applications requesting to meet with Öcalan, but authorities denied every one. 

Cypriot MEPs held a conference on 10 January titled "The Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean – an active volcano.” The MEPs and other guests at the conference released a statement in solidarity with Leyla Güven, on the 62nd day of her hunger strike. The statement called on the Turkish government to release Leyla from prison and meet her demands. They emphasized that the solution to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict would not come from isolating opposition and refusing dialogue.

Güven was not alone in her protest. Throughout January, 250 Kurdish prisoners initiated their own hunger strikes to support Güven and to further pressure the Turkish government. The striking inmates were not isolated to a particular area – over the next few months, the campaign mobilized participants from over 60 Turkish prisons.

On 12 January, AFP News reported that Turkish authorities responded to the hunger strikers by allowing Öcalan’s brother a 15-minute visit to see him. Protests continued, however, with the campaigners insisting that this short reprieve was not sufficient to satisfy their demands. A month later, the prison denied yet another request for a meeting with Öcalan from one of Öcalan’s lawyers. As for Türkiye’s response to the hundreds of prisoners refusing food, authorities placed some of the strikers in solitary confinement. The movement was growing larger – according to a press release on 18 February, 321 prisoners had joined the hunger strike. On 3 February, non-incarcerated Turkish protesters demonstrated in the European side of the Istanbul province Bakırköy. The government had little to say in response. 

By the end of January, authorities granted Güven release from prison, but that was far from the end of this campaign. Güven released a statement clarifying that her demands were not for her own freedom, but to end Öcalan’s isolation. Besides, by this point, the campaign had achieved significant support beyond Güven’s efforts. After her release, she continued her hunger strike at home, under close supervision and medical attention.

The government’s silence did not mean that they weren’t paying attention. In February, the Turkish Interior Ministry arrested 735 people in house raids due to their participation in pro-Kurdish demonstrations. Police also blocked solidarity protests in several cities. On 15 February, authorities brutalized Saliha Aydeniz, a Kurdish lawmaker from Diyarbakir who was protesting in support of the hunger strike. She was subsequently hospitalized. Turkish courts in Ankara blocked 317 pro-Kurdish social media pages and websites, some of which were run by journalists.

Ayse Acar Basaran, Spokesperson for the HDP’s Human Rights and Legal Procedures Procedures Commission, released a statement on 7 March. In her press release, Basaran claimed that the hunger strikes would continue to spread, and if Turkish authorities did not respond, potential for peace between the Kurdish population and the Turkish government would be permanently damaged. Similarly, politicians, activists, and trade union leaders from the UK published a signed open letter in the Guardian, not in support of Kurdish political parties or ideology, but rather, condemning Öcalan’s prison conditions and Türkiye’s harsh response to protests.

On 24 April in London, representatives from several Kurdish organizations began a sit-in in the lobby of Amnesty International's offices to pressure the organization to release a statement in solidarity with regarding the hunger strikes in Türkiye. The following day, Amnesty International closed its offices. However, in the late evening of 26 April, 80 protesters reappeared, and half of them entered the building. Police responded by removing the protestors from the property and placing them under arrest.

Despite (or because of) the harsh Turkish crackdown on the prisoners’ supporters, the movement  became truly transnational. Activists and public figures around the world, such as Jeremy Corbyn, Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, and Angela Davis voiced support for the campaign. In Brussels, the Kurdish diaspora from Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland organized a rally. The march participants began by gathering at the Gare Centrale metro station. Women led the procession wearing white head scarves. As the march continued, the crowd chanted, “Murderer Erdoğan,” “Down with the fascist Turkish regime,” “Terrorist Türkiye, collaborator Europe,” and “Bijî berxwedana zindanan” (“Long live the prison resistance”). Once the procession reached Luxembourg Square, activists gave speeches. 

The mothers of Kurdish prisoners on strike displayed solidarity with their children by organizing group sit-ins across Turkiye – in locations such as outside parks, prisons, and factories. In Amed, mothers held a vigil in May for over 22 days, despite heavy police presence. 

26 May brought an abrupt end to the months-long campaign. Four days prior, authorities permitted Öcalan’s lawyers to visit him for the second time in a month, after eight years of no visits whatsoever. Öcalan communicated to the protestors, via his lawyers, that their demands had been met and his total isolation was over. He asked that the hunger strike conclude in the interest of safety. Following this statement, Güven and three other MPs announced that their hunger strikes would no longer continue. For those who began their strike in November 2018 with Güven, it lasted for 200 days total.

Güven and other campaign leaders emphasized that this was a campaign success, not a movement success. While the hunger strike served its intended purpose of ending Öcalan’s isolation, most of the campaigners likely continued other actions to advance Kurdish human rights and identity-related goals.