The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) launched an international campaign to set free all journalists in Turkey. EFJ unions in Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Hungary, Germany, Spain and Italy have already been linked with arrested journalists in Turkey. It is created within the framework of the IFJ Constitution to represent the interests of journalists’ unions and their members. The EFJ is Europe’s largest organisation of journalists, representing about 260.000 journalists in over thirty countries.
EFJ drew attention on the hunger strikes in Turkey prisons. The report of EPJ is as follows; According to the current figures given by the Turkish Justice ministry 683 detainees in 66 prisons for PKK, PAJK and KCK cases are on indefinite hunger strike. The hunger strikers are demanding the right to use the Kurdish language in Turkey’s education and legal systems and an end to the solitary confinement of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The list of 683 hunger strikers also includes at least 9 imprisoned journalists :
* Tayip Temel (Azadiya Welat) on hunger strike since 12 September 2012 at Diyarbakir D Type Prison
* Fatma Koçak (Dicle News Agency) on hunger strike since 24 September 2012 at Bakirkoy Women’s Prison
* Ayse Oyman (Ozgur Gundem) on hunger strike since 24 September 2012 at Bakirkoy Women’s Prison
* Pervin Yerlikaya Babir (Dicle News Agency) on hunger strike since 15 October 2012 at Bakirkoy Women’s Prison
* Faysal Tunc (Dicle News Agency) on hunger strike since 15 October 2012 at Rize Kalkendere L Type prison.
* Selahattin Aslan (Demokratik Modernite) on hunger strike since 15 October 2012 at Kandira 2, F type prison
* Mehmet Emin Yildirim (Azadiya Welat) on hunger strike since 22 October 2012 at Kandira 1,F type prison
* Sahabettin Demir (Dicle News Agency) on hunger strike since 15 October 2012 at Giresun E type prison
* Omer Faruk Caliskan (Özgür Halk) on hunger strike since (?) at Kandira 2, F Type prison
The situation for hunger strikers is very serious. Those who started the strike have reached their 51st day of hunger today. There could be deaths within ten days while some detainees may already developed incurable diseases, according to a new report of a parliamentarian delegation of the main opposition party CHP which visited the prisons. (DIHA, Nov 3, 2012)
