Arrested Politician Zeydan on Hunger Strike
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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) 26th Term MP for Hakkari Abdullah Zeydan has announced that he has begun a 10-day hunger strike.
Zeydan was detained on November 4, 2016 and is arrested in the Edirne Type F Prison with HDP's former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş. The MP is on a hunger strike in support of HDP Hakkari MP Leyla Güven.
Güven is on the 56th day of her hunger strike. Zeydan began his hunger strike yesterday (January 1) and will end it at the end of the 10th day.
HDP has announced that there will be more people to begin hunger strikes on January 5.
Abdullah Zeydan announced his decision yesterday with the note he sent with his attorneys:
"Our DTK (Democratic Society Congress) Co-Chair and Hakkari MP Leyla Güven left her body hungry for removal of the isolation on Öcalan (Abdullah, leader of the PKK). For Turkey, the way out of this spiral of violence which claimed thousands of our people's lives is removal of the isolation on Öcalan. I would like to state that I begin a 10-day hunger strike in response to our valuable MP's outcry and call."
What happened?
HDP MP Leyla Güven, who has been held arrested in Diyarbakır Type E Prison since January 31, 2018, began a hunger strike on November 7, 2018, demanding the right to a fair trial and removal of the isolation on PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan.
On December 1, 2018, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Sebahat Tuncel and 14 women began hunger strikes for ten days in support of Güven. Diyarbakır Metropolitan Co-Mayor Gültan Kışanak and Dersim Co-Mayor Nurhayat Altun also began supporting the strikes on December 18.
HDP former Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdağ and Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) Chair Çiçek Otlu announced that they began hunger strikes. Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan announced 80 convicts in 17 prisons began hunger strikes with the same demands.
HDP MPs in the parliament went on two-day hunger strikes. (AS/VK)