KURDISH activists occupied the Amnesty International headquarters in London yesterday afternoon in protest at its “silence” on Turkey’s human rights abuses.

Six of the activists went on hunger strike to demand that Amnesty issue a statement about Turkey holding Kurdish leader 
Abdullah Ocalan in solitary confinement.

The protest was called by the Kurdish People’s Assembly and Gik-Der (Migrant Workers Cultural Centre).

The occupation came as Kurds around the world are on hunger strike to highlight Mr Ocalan’s incarceration on a prison island in the Sea of Marmara.

Rosa Gilbert from the Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign said Amnesty had been “silent whilst thousands of Kurds around the world starve themselves just to be heard.

“Kurds are now taking increasingly drastic action so that the demands of the hunger strikers — simply for Turkey to abide by its domestic and international legal obligations in its treatment of political prisoners — can be acted upon.

“Amnesty must cease its silence if it does not want to be seen as colluding with the fascist Turkish regime.”

Amnesty said in a statement yesterday: “Following an in-depth investigation into life under the Turkish military occupation last year, Amnesty International revealed that residents in Afrin are enduring a wide range of violations, mostly at the hands of Syrian armed groups that have been equipped and armed by Turkey.

“Today, Amnesty International met with a delegation who told us that conditions for some hunger strikers in prison in Turkey had deteriorated.

“Amnesty International requested details of alleged mistreatment and denial of necessary medical provisions from legal representatives of those currently on hunger strike.

“Amnesty is monitoring the situation in order to react in the event that the rights of the hunger strikers are being violated in a way that presents a threat to their health and security.

“It is simply untrue to suggest that Amnesty International is in collusion with any regime anywhere in the world.”