After a meeting promoted by Bingöl Bar Association, presidents of 14 bar associations in the Kurdish region released a joint statement. 14 bar associations in Turkey’s Kurdish region warned that hunger strikes in Turkish prisons have serious consequences for the health of prisoners and called for the legal demands of the prisoners to be fulfilled in order to avoid negative outcomes.
The statement said, “It is a well-known fact that hunger strikes have serious consequences for the health of prisoners. In order to avoid negative outcomes, the ongoing hunger strikes in Turkey’s prisons should be ended by fulfilling the demands of the prisoners in accordance with the law. We would like to state that we are ready to take our part in ending hunger strikes as we have done before. Moreover, we consider that the practice of strip-search imposed on prisoners damages human dignity. We also demand that this practice, which we consider torture and ill treatment, be abandoned immediately.”
The bar associations that signed the statement are as follows:
* Adiyaman Bar Association
* Agri Bar Association
* Batman Bar Association
* Bingöl Bar Association
* Bitlis Bar Association
* Dersim Bar Association
* Diyarbakır Bar Association
* Hakkari Bar Association
* Mardin Bar Association
* Muş Bar Association
* Siirt Bar Association
* Sirnak Bar Association
* Urfa Bar Association
* Van Bar Association