DIÁLOGO 2000

Upon conclusion of their visit to Turkey, members of the International Peace Delegation to Imrali launched an Urgent Appeal to break the forced isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and thus allow the more than 300 persons on hunger strike in Turkish prisons and elsewhere to end their solidarity action.  The complete text of the Appeal follows below. Abdullah Öcalan’s unlawful and inhumane isolation must be ended immediately. Otherwise hundreds of people who are on hungerstrike in Turkish prisons and outside Turkey face certain death in the coming days and weeks. Today, 15 February 2019, marks both the 20 th anniversary of Mr. Öcalan’s abduction and the 100 th day of HDP MP Leyla Güven´s hunger strike. The situation now for Ms. Güven and the more than 330 others on hunger strike around the world is beyond critical. By failing to exert pressure on the Turkish authorities to abide by their own laws and constitution and the most basic international human rights standard...

Communiqué In the early hours of yesterday morning, the government of Turkey removed the newly elected mayors of the three main Kurdish cities in the south-east of the country, all belonging to the People's Democratic Party which is the third political force nationally. More than five hundred people were arrested in related police operations and today, despite continued repression and new arrests, protests continue in the streets demanding respect for people´s democratic rights. We repudiate these flagrant violations of human rights and call on the government of President Erdoğan to reverse this repressive escalation against the Kurdish people, in particular, and the country's minorities in general. We also call on the international community, European and international human rights institutions, the governments and companies that continue to support the Turkish government despite its increasingly authoritarian and violent actions against Turkey's own population as...