Arrested Politicians Sebahat Tuncel, Selma Irmak Go on Hunger Strike

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Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Sebahat Tuncel and former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Selma Irmak have announced that they will start an indefinite and irreversible hunger strike.

Arrested politicians Tuncel and Irmak have also made a statement in solidarity with HDP Hakkari MP Leyla Güven, who has also been on an indefinite and irreversible hunger strike in prison for 68 days "with the demand that the isolation of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan be lifted."

In their statement, Tuncel and Irmak have said,

"The demand of Leyla Güven is not an individual demand, but a social one. It is the demand of millions of Kurds for democracy, peace and freedom.

"The thirty-minute meeting that Dear Öcalan made with his brother is important. However, it does not mean that the policy of isolation has ended.

"Therefore, we will also start an indefinite and irreversible hunger strike as of January 15 so that the policy of infinite isolation could come to an end."

Who is Sebahat Tuncel?

Sebahat Tuncel was born in Malatya in 1975.

She began her political career in the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) Women's Commission in 1998 and was elected as HADEP Esenler District Chair. After HADEP was closed, she worked in the Women's Commission of Democratic People Party (DEHAP) İstanbul Provincial Organization.

Being elected as an İstanbul MP when she had been arrested in Kocaeli for 9 months, Tuncel was released from prison on July 25, 2007.

On June 12, 2011, she was re-elected as an MP for İstanbul. On October 27, 2013, she was elected as the Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). On May 28, 2016, she was elected as the Co-Chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) together with Kamuran Yüksek.

She was detained while protesting the detention of HDP MPs in front of Dyarbakır Courthouse and arrested on November 6, 2016.

Who is Selma Irmak?

Born in Mardin in 1971, Selma Irmak was 24th term Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Şırnak MP and 25th-26th terms HDP Hakkari MP.

In the 1990s, she was arrested for almost 10 years for "being a member of the PKK." On April 18, 2009, she was arrested on charge of "being a member of a terrorist organization." She was released on January 4, 2014.

She was the former Vice Chair and party assembly member of the closed Democratic Society Party. From 2014 to 2016, she was also the co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK).

She was detained on November 4, 2016 and arrested on the same day. (HK/SD)