ŞIRNEX - The family of Esma Ayaz, one of the prisoners who protested for the freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, said that their daughter gave the message "We resist, you resist too" in the last meeting.

 

 

Esma Ayaz (46), a prisoner in Izmir-Şakran Women's Closed Prison, was detained and arrested in Sêrt in 1999, when she was only 18 years old, and was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on the charge of "disrupting the unity and integrity of the state". Ayaz, who has been imprisoned for 25 years, is protesting to demand the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is held in absolute isolation in Imrali Type F High Security Closed Prison, and the solution to the Kurdish issue. Ayaz has been taking part in the court boycott action that the prisoners have been carrying out since April 4, through their family and phone calls. Ayaz's family has not heard from their daughter since April 4 because she was in action. Ayaz's mother, Emine Ayaz, has not been able to see her daughter for 7 years due to her illness. Father Ferhat Ayaz has not been able to visit for 15 years due to his health condition.

 

'MY DAUGHTER RESISTS'

 

“Prisoners have been struggling for many years. We do not receive any news from our children. They have only one life in their hands, and they sacrifice it by resisting. My daughter has been on hunger strike for 4 times” Mother Ayaz said

 

Emphasizing that the demands of the prisoners should be heard, mother Ayaz said: "We want peace. How long will it continue like this? We also embrace the cause of our children. Their only demand is to receive news from PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and for this isolation to end. Nobody gets any news from Öcalan, nobody knows how his health is. No one should remain silent against this anymore and say 'enough is enough'. Our children's demands are our demands. We support them until the end."

 

Pointing to the latest protest, Mother Ayaz continued as follows: "This is not such an easy action. I have not seen my daughter for 7 years and she takes part in every protest. My daughter spent her life within those four walls. Her father is ill and I could not go to her meetings. The road is also very far. We don't know what their situation is now. My daughter is resisting right now. In her last phone call, she said to me, 'We resist, you resist too.' "We are keeping our eyes and ears on any news coming from the prisons."

 

'EVERYONE SHOULD HEAR THESE DEMANDS'

 

Father Ferhat Ayaz, who has kidney disease and is bedridden, said that the demand of the prisoners is the demand of everyone who says "I am human". Ayaz said: "I last saw my daughter 15 years ago during a visit to Bayburt Prison. I have not been to see her since I caught this disease. As long as I can remember, my daughter has also been involved in actions for peace and solution in prisons. The action started this year is not such an ordinary action. Like every human being, Mr. Öcalan has the right to meet with his family and lawyers. The prisoners are resisting for this. They have no choice but to resist. The whole world must embrace this demand and say 'this is cruelty'. Everyone should see this cruelty. We, the families, also support these demands and want everyone to hear them."