Hunger strike and protest after golpe remembered
Hunger strike and protest after golpe remembered
On the occasions of the 27th anniversary of the ‘death fast’ of 14 July, Kurdistan Democratic Confederation KCK published a press release. KCK made a call to the Kurdish youth to keep the spirit of 14 July and respond the brutality of the Turkish state against the Kurdish people.
What happened on 14 July 1982?
Following the military coup of 12 September 1980 the Turkish junta imprisoned thousand of Kurds including political opposition members as well as ordinary civilians on account of merely being Kurdish.
The prisoners were subjected to the most horrible inhuman treatments. The junta regime under the presidency of General Kenan Evren did not only tortured the prisoners physically buts also used outrageous methods to degrade the human dignity and the Kurdish identity, including making the prisoners eat human excrement or raping the them with batons.
While the whole world was remaining silent in the face of such brutality the most remarkable reaction came from the prisoners themselves.
On 21 March 1982, Newroz (Kurdish New Year), in order to protest the treatments against the prisoners, one of the leader cadre of the PKK Mazlum Doðan hanged himself in his prison cell where was kept in solitary confinement.
On 17 May 1982, following the protest by Mazlum Doðan, four other prisoners Ferhat Kurtay, Eþref Anyýk, Mahmut Zengin and Necmi Öner set fire on their bodies. That night passed into history as ‘The Night of Fours’.
On 14 July 1982, Hayri Durmuþ stated in a hearing before the court that in order to protest the treatments in the prisons they are starting a hunger strike. Thus, the first death fast in the Kurdish history started. The prisoners of the ward Nr. 36 Kemal Pir (7 September), Hayri Durmuþ (12 September), Akif Yýlmaz (15 September) and Ali Çiçek (17 September) lost their lives.
What happened on 14 July 1982?
Following the military coup of 12 September 1980 the Turkish junta imprisoned thousand of Kurds including political opposition members as well as ordinary civilians on account of merely being Kurdish.
The prisoners were subjected to the most horrible inhuman treatments. The junta regime under the presidency of General Kenan Evren did not only tortured the prisoners physically buts also used outrageous methods to degrade the human dignity and the Kurdish identity, including making the prisoners eat human excrement or raping the them with batons.
While the whole world was remaining silent in the face of such brutality the most remarkable reaction came from the prisoners themselves.
On 21 March 1982, Newroz (Kurdish New Year), in order to protest the treatments against the prisoners, one of the leader cadre of the PKK Mazlum Doðan hanged himself in his prison cell where was kept in solitary confinement.
On 17 May 1982, following the protest by Mazlum Doðan, four other prisoners Ferhat Kurtay, Eþref Anyýk, Mahmut Zengin and Necmi Öner set fire on their bodies. That night passed into history as ‘The Night of Fours’.
On 14 July 1982, Hayri Durmuþ stated in a hearing before the court that in order to protest the treatments in the prisons they are starting a hunger strike. Thus, the first death fast in the Kurdish history started. The prisoners of the ward Nr. 36 Kemal Pir (7 September), Hayri Durmuþ (12 September), Akif Yýlmaz (15 September) and Ali Çiçek (17 September) lost their lives.
