Clashes after Kurdish prisoner Zulkuf Gezen suicide in Turkish jail
DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey Kurdistan,— The death of a Kurdish activist on hunger strike in a Turkish prison sparked clashes between supporters and police near his grave on Monday, as his lawyers and Kurdish party officials said he had committed suicide.
Zulkuf Gezen, who died late Sunday in protest against the prison conditions of Turkey’s jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, was one of scores of detainees on hunger strike in support of a Kurdish lawmaker in Diyarbakir, a sensitive region where Turkish forces have battled Kurdish militants.
Clashes erupted on Monday when police firing water cannon to break up supporters of the main pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP who had gathered at his grave, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
“A prisoner lost his life yesterday. If the justice ministry had fulfilled its responsibility, our friend who lost his life would still be alive,” HDP co-leader Sezai Temelli told reporters.
Gezen’s lawyers said he had hanged himself. He had been in prison for 12 years on charges of membership of the PKK Kurdish militant group.
In a statement, the public prosecutor’s office said Gezen had committed suicide in a bathroom, but rejected claims he killed himself as part of his protest.
A lawmaker from HDP or People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Leyla Guven, launched a hunger strike on November 8, 2018 while in prison to protest the prison conditions for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. She has been released but other detainees followed her lead.
Ocalan is one of the founders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged a bloody rebellion against the Turkish state since 1984. It is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
Ocalan has been serving a life sentence for treason in an island prison near Istanbul since his capture in 1999.
Kurds see Ocalan, called “leader of the Kurdish people” by his followers as a living symbol of the Kurdish cause in Turkey.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population. More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict.
The HDP remains under the scrutiny of Turkish authorities, which accuse the party of links to the PKK. Several of its MPs are behind bars, including former party leader Selahattin Demirtas.
At least 171 prisoners are on hunger strike, according to the party, which has urged the international community to take action.
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, AFP | Ekurd.net
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