Öcalan: Politics Cannot be Done Through Hunger Strikes

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Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has shared his views on the recent developments in the country with his brother Mehmet Öcalan who visited him at the İmralı Prison on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr.

Speaking to the press after his visit, Mehmet Öcalan delivered this message from Abdullah Öcalan: "These deaths severely harmed both their families and me. This is not right."

Öcalan was not permitted to meet with his lawyers and family for years which lead Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Leyla Güven to begin a hunger strike on November 8, 2018. Hundreds of prisoners joined Güven in the strike, which ended on May 26, due to a request by Öcalan himself, after he finally met with his lawyers on May 2 for the first time since 2011.

In this period, four inmates claimed their own lives in protest of what they call "the isolation on Öcalan"

When asked whether Öcalan's meetings with his attorneys continue, Mehmet Öcalan replied, "I can neither say that the contact channels completely opened nor they are closed. We need to wait for a while. If these channels open completely open, this is a good thing for everyone. If they are completely closed, that will bring destruction to everyone."

"Both the PKK and the state need new ways"

Mehmet Öcalan said that the PKK leader criticized both the state and the Kurdish political movement.

"He underlined that we are experiencing a resultless period and that results cannot be got through the politics of destruction and war. He said that the Turkish state cannot get results through the politics of destruction and war, hence a new method is needed.

"He remarked that both the state and the PKK should develop new ways for the solution. He said, 'A solution cannot be found through deaths. New methods that are directed to the solution of the problem and an honorable peace should be developed. A solution cannot be found through the politics of destruction.'" (EMK/VK)