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<TITLE>Change.org petition on Kurdish hunger strikes - sign your name!</TITLE>
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<BODY>Following posts at main and in comments at: http://www.peoplesassemblies.org/2012/10/importance-of-kurdish-struggle-a-personal-view/<br/> <br/>And on You Tube (sorry there is so little in English but this is what we have so far) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JM8XyhBpQ0<br/><br/>And also this, anti-KCK but nevertheless lots of detail:<br/>http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=262009<br/><br/>Pls find petition set out below for support and wide dissemination<br/><br/>Thx<br/><br/>Mark<div>Sent from phone</div><hr/><div><b>From: </b> estella <estella24@tiscali.co.uk>
</div><div><b>Date: </b>Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:24:35 +0000</div><div><b>To: </b>Estella Schmid<estella24@tiscali.co.uk></div><div><b>Subject: </b>Change.org petition on Kurdish hunger strikes - sign your name!</div><div><br/></div>
<FONT COLOR="#222222"><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Dear friends,<BR>
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As you know, 700 Kurdish political prisoners are currently on hunger strike in Turkey, with some of them now having refused food for 49 days. The situation is reaching a crisis point, and now around the world people are beginning to show their support for the strikers and their demands.<BR>
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A petition has been initiated by a group of social scientists at Change.org which calls for more supporters for the hunger strikers. </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><FONT COLOR="#212121">The petition can be reached online here:<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#1054CB"><U><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/hunger-strikers-in-turkish-prisons-engage-in-constructive-dialogue-with-prisoners#">http://www.change.org/petitions/hunger-strikers-in-turkish-prisons-engage-in-constructive-dialogue-with-prisoners#</a><BR>
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Please sign your name and show your support! You can see a list of first signatories below.<BR>
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PRESS BRIEF:<BR>
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An international group of social scientists with research interests in the Kurdish issue launched a petition campaign calling on the Turkish government to address the demands of the Kurdish political prisoners whose hunger strike protests have entered a critical phase.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#222222">Over 700 Kurdish prisoners are on the 49th day of a hunger strike as of October 30, 2012, for the right to defense in their mother tongue and the ending of solitary confinement of Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s imprisoned leader. Medical experts confirm that the 40th day is a threshold in hunger strikes where physical and mental dysfunctions commence, as well as cases of death begin to occur. <BR>
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Petitioners declare their full support to the Kurdish political prisoners’ demands, which, they believe, are among fundamental human rights. The petition emphasizes that the international community’s opinion on Turkey will be strongly shaped by the way the present hunger strikes are handled and reminds the addressees, including the President, Prime Minister and Justice Minister of Turkey, that they will be personally responsible should this protest end in a human tragedy. Recalling the devastating cost of the prison operations of the year 2000, the petitioners warn the Turkish government that any attempt at forceful intervention would cause irreparable harm and destroy the already dim democratic ground for a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish issue. <BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#222222">The petition has received great interest and support from academic circles around the world, reaching over one thousand signatures on its first day. Some internationally renowned social scientists sent support messages to the campaign. Professor Michael Taussig of Columbia University, an international authority in anthropology, signed the petition with the following note: ‘To the Turkish State: please attend immediately to the welfare of these courageous prisoners’. The preeminent feminist theorist Professor Judith Butler of University of California, Berkeley, wrote: “Turkish government must enter into serious dialogue with these prisoners, who now risk their lives to expose the injustice under which they live.” And Noam Chomsky stated: “</FONT>Elementary humanity requires that the just and desperate plea of these prisoners for dialogue should be answered quickly and appropriately, without delay.”<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#222222">The campaign initiators state that they were inspired by Turkey’s great novelist Yasar Kemal’s recent statement on hunger strikes: ‘Watching death is ill-suited to humanity’.<BR>
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<B>The list of Initiators<BR>
</B>Can Ağar, Translator, İstanbul, Turkey<BR>
Ahmet Hamdi Akkaya, Ghent University, Belgium<BR>
Emek Alici, University of London, UK<BR>
Ahmet Alış, Bogaziçi University, Turkey<BR>
Seda Altug, Bogazici University, Turkey<BR>
Shiler Amini, University of Exeter, UK<BR>
Mizgin Müjde Arslan, Bahçeşehir University, Turkey<BR>
Dr Mehmet Asutay, Durham University, UK<BR>
Ebru Avci, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey<BR>
Dr. Bilgin Ayata, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany<BR>
U. Rezan Azizoğlu, Ankara University, Turkey<BR>
Hanifi Barış, University of Aberdeen, UK<BR>
Luqman Barwari, president, Kurdish National Congress-North America (KNC-NA)<BR>
Oyman Basaran, The University of Massachusetts, USA<BR>
Dr. Bahar Başer, University of Warwick, UK<BR>
Dr. Derya Bayır, University of London , UK<BR>
Fırat Bozçalı, Stanford University, USA<BR>
Dr. Katharina Brizić, Linguist, Austria<BR>
Adnan Çelik, EHESS, Paris, France<BR>
Umit Cetin, University of Essex, UK<BR>
Cuma Cicek, Paris Institute of Political Studies, France<BR>
Ozgur Cicek, Binghamton University, NY, USA<BR>
Ayca Ciftci, University of London, UK<BR>
Deniz Cifci, Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey<BR>
Dr Barzoo Eliassi, Lund University, Sweden<BR>
Secil Dagtas, University of Toronto, Canada <BR>
Engin Emre Değer, Istanbul Şehir University, Turkey<BR>
Esin Düzel, UCSD, USA <BR>
Burcu Ege, Independent Researcher, Turkey<BR>
Delal Aydin Elhuseyni, Binghamton University, NY, USA<BR>
Muhammed Mesud Fırat, Bilgi University. Turkey <BR>
Bahar Şahin Fırat, Boğaziçi University, Turkey<BR>
Özlem Galip, University of Exeter, UK<BR>
Başak Gemici, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey<BR>
Frangis Ghaderi, University of Exeter, UK<BR>
Onur Gunay, Princeton University, USA<BR>
Azat Z. Gundogan, Binghamton University, NY, USA<BR>
Saed Kakei, Nova Southeastern University, USA<BR>
Fethi Karakecili, York University, Canada<BR>
Maryam Kashani, The University of Texas at Austin, USA<BR>
Dr Janroj Keles , London Metropolitan University, UK <BR>
Yeşim Mutlu, METU, Turkey<BR>
Dr. Nilay Ozok-Gundogan, Denison University, USA<BR>
Dr. Cengiz Güneş, The Open University, UK<BR>
Serra Hakyemez, Johns Hopkins University, USA<BR>
Wendy Hamelink, Leiden University, Netherlands<BR>
Murat Issı, University of Panteion, Greece<BR>
Mithat Ishakoglu, University of Exeter, UK<BR>
Erkan Karaçay, University of Exeter, UK<BR>
Elif İnal, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey<BR>
Dr. Iclal Ayşe Küçükkırca, Mardin Artuklu University, Turkey<BR>
Dr. Kamran Matin, Sussex University, UK<BR>
Caroline McKusick, University of California Davis, USA<BR>
Dilan Okçuoğlu, Queens University, Canada<BR>
Ergin Opengin, Paris 3, Paris, France<BR>
Omer Ozcan, The University of Texas at Austin, USA<BR>
Dr. Hisyar Ozsoy, University of Michigan-Flint, USA<BR>
Prof. Dr. H.Neşe Özgen, Ege University, Turkey<BR>
Erlend Paashe, Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway<BR>
Berivan Sarikaya, York University, UK<BR>
Dr. Besime Şen, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Turkey<BR>
Dr. Birgül Açıkyıldız-Şengül, Harvard University, USA<BR>
Ruken Sengul, The University of Texas at Austin, USA<BR>
Dr. Serdar Şengül, Harvard University, USA <BR>
Dr. Prakash Shah, University of London, UK<BR>
Christian Sinclair, University of Arizona, USA<BR>
Prof. Dr. Nükhet Sirman, Boğaziçi University, Turkey<BR>
Ülker Sözen, Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Turkey<BR>
Marcin Starzewski, Sabanci University, Turkey<BR>
Kelly Stuart, Columbia University, USA<BR>
Dr. Engin Sustam, EHESS, Paris, france<BR>
Dr. Raja Swamy, The University of Arkansas, USA<BR>
Mohammedali Yaseen Taha, University of Lisbon, Portugal<BR>
Dr. Latif Tas, Humbolt University, Berlin, Germany<BR>
Salima Tasdemir, University of Exeter, UK<BR>
Omer Tekdemir, Durham University, UK<BR>
Dr. Sebahattin Topçuoğlu, Hamburg, Germany<BR>
Dr. Nazan Üstündağ, Bogazici University, Turkey<BR>
Dr. Kamala Visweswaran, The University of Texas At Austin, USA<BR>
Muge Yamanyilmaz, Bilgi University, Turkey<BR>
Serkan Yaralı, EHESS, Paris, France<BR>
Güllistan Yarkın, Binghamton University, USA<BR>
Prof. Dr. Mesut Yeğen, Istanbul Şehir University, Turkey<BR>
İsmail Hakkı Yiğit, Fatih University, Turkey<BR>
Dilan Yildirim, Harvard University, USA<BR>
Emrah Yıldız, Harvard University, USA<BR>
Cagri Yoltar, Duke University, USA<BR>
Dr. Zafer Yörük, Izmir University of Economics, Turkey<BR>
Ayse Seda Yuksel, Central European University, Hungary<BR>
Dr Welat Zeydanlioglu, Kurdish Studies Network, Sweden <BR>
Max Zirngast, University of Vienna, Austria<BR>
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