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FARC women express solidarity with Leyla Guven as she enters 42nd day of hunger strike

COLOMBIAN women from the People’s Alternative Revolutionary Force (Farc) expressed solidarity with Kurdish MP Leyla Guven today as she entered the 42nd day of hunger strike.

The group issued a statement calling for an end to the imprisonment of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) MP for Hakkari and for the Turkish government to open the door to peace talks that were arbitrarily stopped in 2015. 

The women also demanded an end to the “inhuman and illegal isolation” of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, saying that his continued imprisonment is “an obstacle in the way of peace and the political solution to the situation of the Kurdish people and goes against all international conventions.”

They accused the “arbitrary and anti-democratic regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey “of unleashing an open war against Kurds with the arrest of dozens of HDP MPs and more than 5,000 party supporters and activists.

“As Farianas [female Farc members] we sympathise with the hunger strikes and hope that the illegal imprisonment of Leyla Guven will end as soon as possible, so that she can resume her legislative activity,” a statement said.

Ms Guven was arrested in January after making statements in opposition to Operation Olive Branch, Ankara’s illegal invasion and occupation of the peaceful city of Afrin in northern Syria.

She began her hunger strike on November 7 in protest at the continued isolation and imprisonment of Mr Ocalan and had vowed to continue her protest as a “death fast” if her demands are not met.

Her condition has deteriorated and she has been suffering from vertigo and confusion but remains determined in her struggle for justice.

Former Diyarbakir mayor Gultan Kisanak joined the hunger strike from her prison cell yesterday in a bid to end the isolation of Mr Ocalan and open “a new process that could lead to social peace.”

Ms Kisanak, who faces a 230-year sentence on trumped-up terrorism charges, called on the public to understand the importance of the demands and support those on hunger strike.

“Before the World War III staged by imperialism to play out in the Middle East pulls Turkey deeper into the maelstrom, we need a voice for peace. 

“For the voice of reason, peace and dialogue to be heard, the isolation in Imrali [prison island where Ocalan is currently being held] must end at once. We can’t stay silent when war, death and tyranny silence peace. I believe we will prevail,” she said.
 

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