Chain of Solidarity

Let us form a chain of solidarity for the hunger strikers in Turkey’s solitary prisons.

They have literally been thrown into a deep hole. Their voices are meant to be silenced. They are practically buried alive. Dehumanization, loneliness, no air, no light…

In 2021, the Turkish state secretly and insidiously created new types of prisons, excluding the public from the process.

Solitary confinement has been perfected and refined.

The prisoners are meant to die quietly, bloodlessly, and bit by bit.

These new types of prisons are referred to as S- and Y-types. We have also added R-types (rehabilitation types) because these prisons have similar architecture.

The prisoners call these a “well type” because it is as if they have been thrown into a pit or a well, and the lid has been put on.  It is quite fitting to compare these prisons to the death row* in Stuttgart-Stammheim.

23 hours alone in a cell, a small 4×3 m cell, camera surveillance, 3 bars in front of the window (not even a cigarette can fit through), outdoor time on a different floor. You are taken out and must spend an hour at the yard; regardless of whether it is raining, snowing, hailing or scorching sun or you urgently need to use the toilet (e.g., have diarrhoea), or you forgot medication in the cell, etc. This way the right of exercise in fresh air becomes a punishment.

SOLIDARITY SAVES LIVES

The revolutionary prisoners are resisting this with an indefinite hunger strike.

They must sometimes fast for 200 days or more.

To live or die with dignity, they must endure a long hunger strike and accept death or permanent health damage.

There is a direct relationship between support from outside and the price the prisoners must pay. The more solidarity outside, the less the prisoner has to sacrifice. The less solidarity, the higher the price, meaning death or permanent damage.

CHAIN OF SOLIDARITY

Currently, 10 revolutionary prisoners are on an indefinite hunger strike.

We call on all solidarity groups and individuals to participate in our campaign to support the prisoners and become part of the chain of solidarity.

How can you join the chain of solidarity?

The first link in the chain was the wife of the hunger-striking revolutionary prisoner Fikret Akar. She conducted a solidarity hunger strike for one week. Other people will join this link and conduct solidarity hunger strikes of varying lengths.

There are also people who cannot conduct hunger strikes. They can do what they consider meaningful.

This could be a poem that one reads aloud. For example, an Irish comrade read Bobby Sands’ poem. It could be a piece that one performs. There is, for instance, a wonderful video presented with an accordion. Or simply a favourite song that one wants to dedicate to the resisting prisoners.

Creativity knows no bounds here.

Those who cannot or do not want to be visible can also just send a photo of their organization, group, etc., along with the corresponding audio file.

Currently, 10 political prisoners are on hunger strike, ranging from 169 to 7 days (as of April 5, 2025).

Their demands are:

• Transfer to other prisons where they can have contact with their friends.
• Closure of isolation prisons, as isolation means torture, and torture is a crime against humanity.
• End to arbitrary forced transfers and violations of prisoners’ rights.

Join the chain and show your support for prisoners fighting against the inhumane conditions in prisons where solitary confinement torture takes place.

Send your messages of support and the date(s) on which you would like to add your name.

You can send this to the following email address:

is4pp@riseup.net

On TikTok and X, you can watch the solidarity videos or actions:

TikTok: @is4pp6

X: https://x.com/is4pp2025

*Ulrike Meinhof described the death row as follows:

From the time period of June 16, 1972 – February 9, 1973:

The feeling that one’s head is about to explode (the feeling that the skull should actually tear apart, flake off) –

the feeling that one’s spinal cord is being pressed into the brain,

the feeling that the brain is gradually shrinking, like dried fruit, for example –

the feeling that one is continuously, imperceptibly under electric shock, being remote-controlled –

the feeling that associations are being hacked away –

the feeling that one is pissing one’s soul out of one’s body, as if one cannot hold water –

the feeling that the cell is moving. One wakes up, opens one’s eyes: the cell is moving; in the afternoon, when the sun shines in, it suddenly stops.

One cannot shake off the feeling of movement. 

One cannot determine whether one is shaking from fever or from cold – 

one cannot clarify why one is shaking – one is freezing. 

To speak at a normal volume requires effort, as if one is shouting, almost roaring – 

the feeling that one is going silent – 

one can no longer identify the meaning of words, only guess – 

the use of hissing sounds – s, ß, tz, z, sch, is absolutely unbearable – 

guards, visits, the yard appear to one as if made of celluloid – 

headaches – 

flashes – 

sentence structure, grammar, syntax – no longer controllable. 

When writing: two lines – one cannot retain the beginning of the first line by the end of the second – 

the feeling of burning out inside – 

the feeling that if one were to say what is going on, if one were to let it out, it would be like hissing boiling water in someone else’s face, like boiling tank water that scalds and disfigures a life sentence prisoner – 

raging aggression for which there is no outlet. That is the worst. A clear awareness that one has no chance of survival; a complete failure to convey that. 

Visits leave nothing behind. Half an hour later, one can only mechanically reconstruct whether the visit was today or last week – 

Bathing once a week, on the other hand, means: thawing out for a moment, recovering – it lasts for a few hours – 

the feeling that time and space are intertwined – 

the feeling of being in a funhouse mirror room – staggering – 

Afterwards: terrible euphoria that one hears something – 

about the acoustic difference between day and night. 

The feeling that time is now flowing away, the brain is expanding again, the spinal cord is sinking back down – over weeks. 

The feeling that one’s skin has been stripped away.