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By Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group:
The Kurdish prisoners in Turkey are continuing their hunger strike. Please spread the news about the strike. Send the appeal letter to the Turkish consulates, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Secretary General of the United Nations, human rights organizations urging them to act swiftly to ask the Turkish government to meet the basic demands of these prisoners. (See the contact list below).
Appeal Letter: In Solidarity with the Kurdish Hunger Strikers in Turkey
Oct 25, 2012
Dear Mr. Aydın Topcu, Turkish Consul General :
The Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group expresses its deepest concern for the health of the 700 Kurdish prisoners, currently on hunger strike in a Turkish prison. Medical experts have raised alarm over the prisoners’ precarious vulnerability to damaging and life endangering effects of the long strike, now entering its 41th day. We understand that the ongoing hunger strike is a desperate act on the part of prisoners to bring to the attention of the world community the intolerable human rights violations and discriminations against Kurds in Turkey. However, the prisoners’ demands are primarily the right to the mother tongue and freeing Mr.Öcalan from punitive solitary confinement. The Turkish government has thus far adamantly refused to consider these demands in violation of international conventions to which Turkey is a signatory.
As the prisoners on strike enter a critical stage, we urge the Turkish government and international community to find a peaceful solution to end the plight of these prisoners whom we call upon not to undertake measures that would endanger their own lives. We call upon the international community to demand accountability of the Turkish governments’ treatment of these prisoners. It behooves the Turkish government to enter a meaningful dialogue with the prisoners to address their demands before the incident turns into a human tragedy in which Turkey will be directly implicated.
Cordially
Dr.Amir Sharifi
and Board of the Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group
Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group has been formed to mobilize effective action to defend and protect the Kurdish human rights, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These rights include civil, cultural, linguistic, religious, and political rights and freedoms in the countries that Kurds live.
Contacts:
Turkish consulate: losangeles@mfa.gov.tr http://www.un.org/en/contactus/
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, United Nations, New York, NY 10017 USA, 212-963-5012 Fax: 212-963-7055 Email: ecu@un.org
U.S. ADMINISTRATION
President Barack Obama, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20500 Fax: 202-456-2461 Email:president@whitehouse.gov
Secretary of State, US State Dept, 2201 C St., NW, Washington, DC 20520, 202-647-5291; Fax: 202-647-6434, Send a question or comment: E-mail:secretary@state.gov
Amnesty International USA, 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001 Phone: (212) 807-8400 Fax: (212) 627-145
