{"id":17581,"date":"2019-03-12T14:06:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T14:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17581"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:10","slug":"free-ocalan-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17581","title":{"rendered":"Free \u0102\u2013calan call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kurdish MP Leyla G\u0102\u013dven has now been on hunger strike for more than 120 days. Her body has begun to shut down; she can hardly speak.<\/p>\n

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Alongside over 300 other hunger strikers, Leyla is standing in solidarity with the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah \u0102\u2013calan \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re calling for his isolation and solitary confinement at the hands of the oppressive Turkish government to end. And they may pay for this brave stand with their lives.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen anything like it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke told UniteLive, recounting a visit he had with Leyla in February. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe was racked with pain. We had to visit her wearing masks because her condition is so acute that even the smallest infection could end her life. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very brave woman and is determined to see this through. It was harrowing meeting her.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

\"ocalan1\"

Unite AGS Tony Burke and others in delegation visit Kurdish MP Leyla G\u0102\u013dven who has been on hunger strike for over 120 days<\/p><\/div>\n

Burke visited Leyla as part of an international peace delegation comprising trade unionists, politicians and activists, who travelled to Turkey and Kurdistan in February, intent on securing \u0102\u2013calan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right to end his isolation and eventual freedom.<\/p>\n

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For 20 years, \u0102\u2013calan, the leader of the Kurdish Workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Party (PKK), has been held in in a cell on the island of \u00c4\u00b0mral\u00c4\u00b1, where he has\u00c2\u00a0been allowed\u00c2\u00a0only\u00c2\u00a0one visit, from his brother, since 2016. He has not met with his lawyers in nearly a decade. He is not allowed any contact with the outside world.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe conditions under which \u0102\u2013calan is kept violate every single international convention,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt violates the European Convention of Human Rights, which Turkey must abide by as a member of the Council of Europe; it violates even Turkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own constitution and laws. At heart, \u0102\u2013calan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s imprisonment is a human rights issue.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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The parallels between Abdullah \u0102\u2013calan and Nelson Mandela are uncanny \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is why Burke dubs the Kurdish leader the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Mandela of the Middle East\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Like Mandela, \u0102\u2013calan is being detained indefinitely under horrific conditions on an island \u00e2\u20ac\u201c literally and symbolically amplifying his absolute isolation. And also like Mandela, \u0102\u2013calan is being persecuted for beliefs that we as trade unionists and social democrats hold most dear \u00e2\u20ac\u201c equality, justice and peace.<\/p>\n

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\"ocalan2\"<\/p>\n

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Burke and his fellow delegates, including TSSA general secretary Manual Cortes, former Minister of Justice for Iceland \u0102\u2013gmundur J\u0102\u0142nasson, and actress and activist Maxine Peake among others, were not allowed to visit \u0102\u2013calan during their time in Turkey \u00e2\u20ac\u201c their requests to visit \u0102\u2013calan or meet with Turkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s justice minister to express concern over the rapidly deteriorating condition of the hunger strikers fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe did meet with Leyla G\u0102\u013dven and a number of politicians, trade unionists, campaigners and others who have all told us the same story \u00e2\u20ac\u201c of the worsening human rights situation in Turkey and the violent persecution of anyone who dares stand up to the government, including trade unionists.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Burke highlighted the increasingly vicious clampdown on trade unions under the oppressive Erdo\u00c4\u017aan-led Turkish government \u00e2\u20ac\u201c most recently, the president of the\u00c2\u00a0rubber and chemical workers union Abdullah Karacan was assassinated last year in November.<\/p>\n

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Arrests of trade unionists as they attempt to strike over health and safety issues at the construction site of the new Istanbul airport and the arrest of Renault shop stewards and the denial of union recognition by multinationals are common. Those who dare to join an independent trade union, or\u00c2\u00a0whose family are members of independent unions, are blacklisted from any government job.<\/p>\n

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This is in part why Unite and dozens of other UK trade unions have formed the Freedom for \u0102\u2013calan campaign \u00e2\u20ac\u201c his continued confinement runs in parallel with restrictions on labour rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015b\u0102\u2013calan is also the only person who can secure peace in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, which has raged on for decades,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnder his leadership and through his writings and ideas, an enclave of grassroots democracy has been established in Rojava in Northern Syria \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and LGBTQ rights, environmentalism, and religious and political tolerance flourish. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a beacon of democratic light in a region mired in violence, fascism and religious extremism.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The case for \u0102\u2013calan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s freedom is clear, and the Freedom for \u0102\u2013calan campaign, of which Unite is a founding member, is determined to secure it.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFollowing our delegation in February, we are now putting together a publication that we can distribute setting out our findings,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke said, speaking to UniteLive after a joint press conference with the TSSA union earlier this month. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur aim now is to get more lay members involved and to continue to push the case in Turkey and in the international community to end \u0102\u2013calan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s isolation first of all, and to grant him access to his lawyers to work towards his eventual release.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Actress Maxine Peake, who joined the February delegation alongside Burke and others, echoed Burke’s call for\u00c2\u00a0\u0102\u2013calan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s freedom.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI want\u00c2\u00a0\u0102\u2013calan\u00c2\u00a0to know people are there, that no one has forgotten him and that strides are being made throughout the global community to get him free,” she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI hope we can spread the message because\u00c2\u00a0this is an issue which is being ignored on a European and global level. People have no knowledge that\u00c2\u00a0over there\u00c2\u00a0a Member of Parliament (Leyla\u00c2\u00a0G\u0102\u013dven) can be on hunger strike.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Time, however \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for both Leyla G\u0102\u013dven and the hundreds of hunger strikers now in critical condition, as well as for \u0102\u2013calan himself, who this year spent his 70th<\/sup>\u00c2\u00a0birthday in his cell \u00e2\u20ac\u201c may be running out.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe situation has now reached crisis level and the stakes could not be higher,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe implore everyone to get behind our campaign. \u0102\u2013calan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s freedom is, as trade unionists and internationalists, our freedom as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Find out more about the\u00c2\u00a0Freedom for \u0102\u2013calan campaign and how you can support it here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kurdish MP Leyla G\u0102\u013dven has now been on hunger strike for more than 120 days. Her body has begun to shut down; she can hardly speak.   Alongside over 300 other hunger strikers, Leyla is standing in solidarity with the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah \u0102\u2013calan \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re calling for his isolation and solitary confinement at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[158,1134,1024,618],"wps_subtitle":"Freedom for \u0102\u2013calan campaign ramps up as hunger strikers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 condition deteriorates","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17581"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17581"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25442,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17581\/revisions\/25442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}