ANKARA-  İskender Kahraman who is on hunger strike for 71 days today, called on to the Kurdish community and said: 'It is not the time to stay silent'.

 

The hunger strike initiated by  Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair and People's Democratic Party (HDP) hakkari Deputy Leyla Güven with the demand of termination of the isolation on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan continues with the participation of 317 political prisoners in different prisons.

 

One of these political prisoners is İskender Kahraman who is sentenced to life in Edirne Type F Prison. The hunger strike of Kahraman who is in prison since 2001 is on its 71st day.

 

İskender Kahraman's elder sister who visited him in prison lately, said "The demands must be met before someone dies" and described the hunger strike as an 'honourable stance'.

 

Sister Kahraman who stated that the hunger strikes are worrying her, underlined the fact that the hunger strikes are not personal they are being done in the favour of the Kurdish community. Kahraman said: "The Kurdish community need to stand up now. They locked up everyone including children, why? We just want to live by our own identity. The Kurdish community needs to put a stopper on this. I am calling on to all families whose children are in prison today. I say, if our children are on a hunger strike in prisons, we shall not cook at home. We should join them in hunger. This is what we can do to support the hunger strikes. It is not the time to stay silent. If we struggle, no one can stop us. And I want to congratulate those who are on hunger strike. We stand tall and strong, as we always will."