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Plaza de Mayo Grandmother Nora Cortiñas has penned a letter of solidarity for Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Hakkari MP Leyla Güven, who has been on a hunger strike in prison for the last 78 days.
Leyla Güven, who is also the Co-Chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), went on a hunger strike in Diyarbakır Type E Prison on November 7, 2018 with the demand that the isolation of Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan be lifted.
The letter* of Nora Cortiñas is as follows:
"Comrade Leyla Güven,
I am Nora Cortiñas, Mother of Plaza de Mayo-Linea Fundadora.
I am writing to express solidarity with the struggle you are carrying out for the freedom of your people, and to end the isolation against the jailed leader of the Kurdish movement Abdullah Öcalan.
We know that your life and health are at risk, but that you are firm in your determination to continue with this action until the Erdogan regime allows Öcalan to communicate with his people.
The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo-Linea Fundadora have more than 40 years of resistance to dictatorship, which is why we know that in this struggle one commits his/her life in many ways.
We wish that this action that is multiplying in different prisons, would not be only a gesture of dignity and an example, in a world shaken by indifference. We wish it also achieves the goal of freedom of all political prisoners.
I send you a hug, and the commitment to shout here very loud and to amplify your call. I know that soon this hug will be real, that we will hug each other, and we will continue close to you, accompanying you, in your struggle for the women's revolution in Kurdistan.
Hasta la victoria, siempre."
About Plaza de Mayo (May Square) Grandmothers From 1976 to 1983, around 30 thousand people were subjected to enforced disappearance in Argentina and almost 500 babies of the disappeared were abducted from their families. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have been waging an international struggle against enforced disappearances since 1977 and contributed to the establishment of a Gene Bank so that the abducted children can be identified. As of August 2018, 128 children who were abducted from their families during the era of dictatorship in Argentina have been identified. |
* The Turkish and English versions of the letter has been published on the official website of the HDP.
(AS/SD)