Şahmaran Women's Platform founding member, Gülizar İpekli, said that the Turkish government, not only does not take into account international laws, but also does not apply its internal laws, and added that they demand freedom for Aysel Tuğluk and all ill prisoners.

İpekli gave information about their campaign for Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, who has been imprisoned for about 6 years and has not been released despite her serious illness. İpekli stated that they started the campaign on 2 January with the participation of many organizations and platforms, because the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) makes political decisions. Reminding that 9 bodies have come out from prisons in a month, İpekli said: “We are faced with a system that does not apply both international and domestic laws. We want freedom for Aysel Tuğluk and all ill prisoners.”

Noting that one of the biggest reasons why Aysel Tuğluk was targeted is that she is was first female co-chair in Kurdish political history, İpekli said: “Aysel Tuğluk is our friend who is known by everyone in the women's struggle and has been carrying out this struggle for many years. She continued this struggle not only for Kurdish women, but for all women.”

We will continue to campaign for Aysel

Stating that they are running a signature and awareness campaign for Aysel Tuğluk on many different platforms, İpekli added: “The campaign we started on 2 January was very strong. We opened the tags 'Freedom for Aysel Tuğluk' and 'Justice for Aysel Tuğluk' on Twitter. We set up a website and put Aysel Tuğluk's articles as well as texts written for her on this site. We prepared the text and translated the text into 8 languages. We started a signature campaign with the title of 1000 Women for Aysel. The campaign was not limited to Turkey. Signatures came from 54 countries and we already collected 6 thousand signatures. We sent a letter to the UN and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture. There was a return from these institutions, but there was no effective result. We sent petitions to institutions such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Health. We have organized many events and campaigns like these. Many very different events will also be organized for Tuğluk.”