TURKEY’S opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) called on the international community today to “raise the voices” of hunger strikers as they began their 50th day without food.

Speaking at a press conference in the Turkish parliament, HDP MP Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit insisted that the political prisoners were making “legitimate, legal and democratic demands.”

The rolling hunger strike started in November, on the anniversary of the 1978 foundation of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The participants are demanding the release of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been jailed on Imrali island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999.

Ms Kocyigit said: “Thousands of political prisoners, who have been imprisoned for opposing the government, have been resisting for 50 days,” adding that they are demanding an end to discrimination and torture.

She argued that the treatment of Mr Ocalan, who is being held in isolation, amounted to “a crime of torture” and violated international law and the Turkish constitution.

Earlier this week, hunger strikers said that they had been severely beaten in Turkoglu prison.

Protest participant Baran Gul told the Mesopotamia News agency that his arm had been dislocated and that another prisoner had suffered injuries to his hands and feet.