Kurdish prisoner in Turkey ends his life to protest prison conditions of Abdullah Ocalan
Kurdish prisoner Zulkuf Gezenin in Turkey ends his life to protest prison conditions of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan on March 16, 2019. Photo: SM/FB
DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey Kurdistan,— A Kurdish political prisoner Zülküf Gezen jailed in Tekirda? Prison in western Turkey has ended his life on Saturday night as a protest against Turkey’s isolation of the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, ANF reported.
Gezen’s body was then taken to the Nam?k Kemal Research Hospital morgue before its delivery to his family who came from the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir (Amed) in Turkish Kurdistan, southeastern Turkey, on hearing the news.
Masses gathered at the Atatürk Airport in Istanbul where Gezen’s body was brought in a coffin to be taken to Diyarbak?r for burial which will take place tomorrow.
Speaking here, HDP MP Gülistan Koçyi?it offered their condolences to Gezen family and the people of Kurdistan, adding that they would accompany the family who will leave for Amed tomorrow morning.
Koçyi?it called on the people of Diyarbakir to ensure strong participation in the farewell to Gezen, and called for the demands of prisoners on hunger strike to be met immediately.
Ocalan, who was arrested 20 years ago, is serving a life sentence on Imrali island, close to Istanbul.
A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.
Turkish police attacks people visiting the grave of Zülküf Gezen, who ended his life to protest against the isolation of Abdullah Ocalan, in Diyarbakir city, Turkish Kurdistan, March 18, 2019. Photo: ANF
Kurds see Ocalan, called “leader of the Kurdish people” by his followers and “head of the PKK terrorist organisation and separatist leader” by Turkish officials and media, 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.
Gezen’s body abducted: Nocturnal burial under police blockade
The body of political prisoner Zülküf Gezen was transferred to Diyarbakir in the middle of the night and interred under police blockade.
The body of Zülküf Gezen was transferred on Sunday night from Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport to Diyarbakir without the knowledge of his family and subsequently buried. The Peoples’ Democratic Party HDP deputy Ay?e Acar Ba?aran stated that the body was abducted by the police. The HDP had previously called for strong attendance in the the funeral scheduled for today.
After the transfer to Diyarbakir, the deceased’s family was informed that the funeral would take place during the night. HDP MPs were denied access to the airport in Diyarbakir, the site was surrounded by hundreds of police officers and armored vehicles. The police told HDP deputies Pero Dündar, Musa Fariso?ular?, Remziye Tosun, Nuran ?mir, Feleknas Uca, Saliha Aydeniz and Ay?e Acar Ba?aran that their participation in the funeral would not be allowed.
The coffin was then taken by the police to Yenikoy Cemetery and buried in the presence of a few relatives. The HDP deputies were violently prevented from entering the cemetery.
Police attacks people visiting Gezen’s grave in Diyarbakir
The police attacked the people who were visiting the grave of Zulkuf Gezen, who carried out a sacrifice action in Tekirdag Type F Prison No.2 to protest the isolation imposed upon Ocalan.
The police attacked the crowd of people who were going to the Yenikoy Cemetery to visit the grave of Zulkuf Gezen, whose body was stolen away to be buried in a rush by Turkish police.
The crowd, which included HDP Co-chair Sezai Temelli, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-chair Mehmet Arslan and regional MPs from the party, were cut off by the cemetery gates. The police set up barricades with shields and armored vehicles by the entrance and attacked the crowd with water cannons.
Following a long struggle between the police and the MPs, the MPs crossed the barricade. They were circled by the police once again inside the cemetery and were not allowed to go to the grave.
In February 2019, a Kurdish man, Ugur Sakar, was seriously injured after setting himself on fire in Germany as a protest against Turkey’s detention of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, police said.
Dozens of Kurdish officials and lawmakers are on hunger strike including Kurdish MP Leyla Guven who has been on hunger strike in Turkey for more than three months, to protest against the prison conditions of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | anfenglish.com
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