In his letter, political prisoner Mustafa Koçak announced that he was turning his hunger strike into a Hunger Strike till Death (Death Fast). The decision of the political prisoner, who has been holding a hunger strike since July 3th 2019 against the unjust sentence of life imprisonment, has come to the public thanks to his lawyers from the People’s Law Bureau, who posted the text of Kocak’s letter on social media on Monday afternoon.
Below we publish a rough translation of the full text of Mustafa Koçak’s letter.
To the public, intellectuals, artists, all mass democratic organizations and our people,
“In our time being human
requires you to pay a high price
Or you will be part of the cowardice
or they will tear you to pieces
And actually being human
is to become stronger with others,
you are a human if your soul hurts
when the soul of other is hurt.”
Ataol Behramoglu
On the scene of history, for centuries we have seen how people against the tyranny of a minority of tyrants come. Although the names of these tyrants have changed in every era of human history, their tyranny against the people has not changed.
This story is a history of rebellion and resistance against injustice, repression, bloodshed and exploitation of the rulers.
This story began with Spartacus, continued with Pir Sultan[1], who says, “Turn back whoever wants, but I will not turn from the path I walk.” With Bedrettin[2] from Simavia who says, “Let us be together in everything except the love of our beloved.” Continued with Bobby Sands[3], who once said, “And our day will come. ”
This story is also the story of many other known and unknown people who, from the past to the present, using their right to resist the tyranny of rulers’ violence and injustice, won victories, were defeated, who, despite the defeat, rise to attack them again and again, who struggled regardless of the conditions they were in and paid the high price for it.
Struggle and resistance are the most worthy qualities of one person. They are the source of a decent life. The tradition of resisting the injustice is a legacy left by those before us.
I, using my right to resist, against the injustices I face, on July 3th 2019, declared a hunger strike demanding justice.
Today is the 90th day of the hunger strike! Alright, but why did I start this hunger strike?
On September 23th 2017, I was detained by police while walking in the Mecidiyekoy district of Istanbul. The reason for my detention were the lies and slander which were written by police informant Berk Ercan, who is already well known to everyone for the lies he told.
I was in police custody for 12 days. I have been subjected to all kinds of torture, starting with blindfolding, putting a metal trash bin on my head and striking, and threatening that my pregnant older sister and my other sisters will be raped. In order not to meet my lawyers, a ban on the visits on 110 lawyers was imposed!
The reason for all this torture was that I refused to sign the “testimonies” given to me by the agents of political police, containing lies, false allegations and slander as Berk Ercan had done earlier. As the poet said: “… Or you will be part of the cowardice / or they will tear you to pieces…” I refused to become part of the cowardice, to become a police informant, only to save my own life.
And so I was brought to the case in what became known as the “murder of prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz” after police informant Berk Ercan told to the police the following: “One day in the end of 2015, while we were eating burgers in a restaurant, he had told me that he personally provided the weapon used during the attack.” The only allegation in my address is just that! There is no other information, document, evidence or proof.
In this letter, I will not tell you every single thing that happened during the trial. I will not talk about the difficulties of the court that sentenced me, despite this stupid statement that has nothing to do with the truth, or about the situation he has come to.
This event happened before the eyes of the whole world, and everyone saw and knew who the three people were in that room that day, and who killed each of them.
And let everyone know that we are not the true defendants in this case! The government is trying to put the blame on us for this case in order to prevent its loss of prestige and to take its revenge. Winston Churchill says, “In wartime, truth is so precious that it should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies…” Individuals who could hardly be called true judges and prosecutors, instead of making any effort to come up with the truth in the case, they did the opposite, they “embraced” the lie they so desperately needed.
On July 11th 2019, I was sentenced to life imprisonment and sentenced to more than 42 years in prison on other charges. The newspapers published on their front pages news of the case in which we are being tried. Televisions broadcast live coverage from the courthouse where the hearing took place. It was clear to everyone that this was tendentious campaign, and what was happening was not a lawsuit, but an open political event. So they can say, “Look, we sentenced them, we call them to account,” they played the theater using slander and gossip, spoken by one person, which became an instrument in the hands of the political police. And when it comes to the people, the revolutionaries, the progressive people, the communists, and the intellectuals, a “generous” sentencing begins in their “justice shops”!
Yes, they give their sentences so generously, but we tell them they can’t apply it so easily! In Soma, in Ermenek, in Aladag, in Corlu, in the Torunlar centre in Istanbul, and in many other examples, millions of people say, “We are hungry for justice.”
There is no justice in this country! Millions of people are experiencing the “apogee” of injustice!
And again we say, we are not compelled to watch in vain how they doom us to tolerate injustice!
“Everyone who considers himself to be a real man should feel the pain of the slap on the other, as it was his own cheek.” Says Che Guevara… And not only because of the injustices and unlawfully decisions experienced by me, but also as one of the millions of people who say they are hungry for justice, who endure all injustices and do not refuse to seek justice, I doom my body to hunger.
They wanted to silence my call for justice in the largest courthouse in Europe. Because the palaces were built to drown even the smallest call for justice.
By imposing these unjust judgments upon us, they try to spread fear among the all people. I turned my body, which I had starved, to a barricade, to counter all these injustices and attacks.
With my body, which I have doomed to hunger for 90 days, I continue to call for justice … Not only do I make a call for justice outside the prison walls: my mother, my father, and my sisters from the first day of Kurban Bayram (10.08.2019;), Hold one week relay hunger strikes. Not only my family, also my friends, my lawyers, joining my hunger strike, and in every possible way, they try to tell people about this injustice.
It is impossible not to hear the cries, the anger of people from all groups of the society. But the perpetrators of injustice are closing their ears to these cries. In order to create a great and powerful call that can be heard even by the “deaf ears” and not just a sound heard by the people with the “hardest of hearing”, I doomed my body to hunger and made a decision to start a Hunger Strike till Death (Death Fast)
The indefinite hunger strike, which I have carried out not only for my own sake, but also for all those who face injustice and do not cease to seek justice, I have decided to turn it into a Hunger Strike till Death(Death Fast) as of September 30, 2019 the 90th day of the hunger strike.
“… We who do not have a voice in the palaces, We who are strangers in private property, We who are always dead, the historical homeless, without a future, the holders of living anger, the real women and men, the youngest, the most dignified, the best … ”
Is there is another way I can talk explain the injustices I have experienced?
Justice is buried in the courtrooms. In each case, prosecutors and judges throw another shovel at the grave of justice. One of the largest shovels has been thrown at our cause. Now, in order to bring to light again, the deep-seated justice of them, with the spring of my life, risking my life, I begin a Hunger Strike till Death(Death Fast).
My struggle is against the attacks on justice. It is against the death of justice! Justice for which countless heroes have sacrificed their lives for thousands of years ….
Even with the cost of death, I will defend justice!
I will stand against injustice, even pay for it with my life!
“I’m going to become the morning sun,
So that no one wakes up in the dark. ”
When I started to walk this worthy path, I did not start walking on it to go back, but to go forward. I am making one of the biggest steps this time, starting this protest that can end with death. This step made by me is an appeal to all those who want to be on the side of justice, truth, freedom and a dignified human life!
All that we sacrifice today for fear of losing some of us tomorrow may turn into mistakes that we regret bitterly. Anyone who calls himself a person would not want to die with his head down and would not defend his dignity and ideals. This is a call to fight! Today is the moment when we can break down the walls of fear that have enveloped us on all sides with injustice, raised by those who want to strangle us in the dark, so we must be like a ball of fire that enlightens even the deepest darkness. Only in this way will we be able to tear down the walls of fear made of paper!
This is a call to fight! To conquer the darkness, to light the fire of enlightenment, to make that powerful call that will say, “Hear!” To the deafest ears, and “Look!” To the blindest eyes, therefore join your voice to mine to shout even harder!
The demands of my Hunger Strike till Death(Death Fast)
The courts are not a tool for political revenge. The specialized courts should be abolished!
-We don’t want a society of scammers. Laws Enforcing Scammers and Informants to be Abolished!
-Torture is a crime against humanity. Police agents who are torturing people, in the Istanbul Police Department must be identified and sentenced!
-The testimony of “witness” named Cavit Yilmaz, who, in a petition to the court, stated that he had given testimony during the investigation and pre-trial proceedings, under the pressure of threats, the psychological and physical tortures carried out against him, cannot be used as evidence for sentencing. Cavit Yilmaz to be heard from court again!
– My unlawful sentence to be canceled. A new FAIR JUDICIAL PROCESS must be started!
-To put an end to my illegal and unjust captivity. I demand my release!
– TO BE PUT AN END TO ALL INJUSTICES, THAT I AND THE WHOLE PEOPLE ARE FACING. I WANT JUSTICE!
I send my greetings full of hope and struggle to all who walk with me, to those who will walk together with me, and to my people, in this march for truth and justice, I wish them all success …
Sooner or later, we will win! And Che Guevara is again right on this adventure. The price of truth is welcome …
LONG LIVE OUR DEATH FAST RESISTANCE!
WE WANT JUSTICE, WE WILL GET IT!
WE WILL WIN IN OUR STRUGGLE!
I love you very much!
Don`t let your hope to disappear.
Mustafa Koçak
Notes:
1 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pir_Sultan_Abdal
2 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Bedreddin
3 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Sands
4 – https://www.anti-imperialistfront.org/tag/dhkc/
5- More about the massacre in Soma, you can read in the articles, published on this web site.
http://bianet.org/archives/search?utf8=✓&q=Soma&sec=english
6 – More about the massacre in Ermenek you read here
http://bianet.org/archives/search?utf8=✓&q=Ermenek&sec=english
7 – More about Aladag, read here
http://bianet.org/archives/search?utf8=✓&q=Aladag&sec=english
8 – http://bianet.org/archives/search?utf8=✓&q=Corlu+Train&sec=english
9 –
http://bianet.org/english/labor/158432-detentions-extended-for-5-suspects-in-lift-falling
https://www.novinite.com/articles/163181/Ten+People+Die+After+Elevator+Collapses+in+Istanbul%2C+Turkey
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/court-finds-no-responsible-party-in-deadly-istanbul-elevator-accident-case–105471
