PRESS RELEASE, ILHAN YELKUVAN SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE, JANUARY 30, 2000
Today was the 62nd day of Ilhan Yelkuvan's heroic Death Fast action. Ilhan
is in solitary confinement in Hamburg Prison, Germany, after being jailed
for being a member of a revolutionary organisation, DHKP-C (Revolutionary
People's Liberation Party-Front) from Turkey. Despite his being held in
solitary confinement, today the demands of Ilhan were brought onto the
streets of London. All of the peoples of Turkey, revolutionaries,
anti-imperialists, progressives and democrats united in a show of
solidarity with Ilhan Yelkuvan in a march by around 400 people. The route
of the march took in parts of North London heavily populated by Turks,
Kurds and other peoples of Anatolia. En route a number of people came out
of shops to join the march, and others applauded.
A number of the marchers were and are on a solidarity hunger strike – two
since January 16, 2000, while others have carried out rotating hunger
strikes for three-day periods.
The march was headed by four people carrying a large banner with the
portrait of Ilhan on it. Also in another banner it was stating that " The
German state, the leftover from the Nazi period, is massacring patriots in
their prison cells" Slogans were chanted in English and Turkish in support
of Ilhan. There was a significant police presence, which was unnecessary
given the nature of the demonstration. When the march reached Turnpike
Lane, there was a rally in a nearby park. Speeches were given in support by
the Ilhan Yelkuvan Solidarity Committee (Britain). A speaker outlined the
nature of Ilhan's struggle. "Ilhan was taken captive because he did not
abandon his ideas, and because he would not, he was judged on the basis of
a show trial… They are afraid. Afraid of an Anatolian revolution and of
socialism… The German state supported fascism in Turkey while we paid a
heavy price for resisting it. The solitary confinement Germany is now using
was employed by the military junta in Turkey in the past, but they could
not make us accept it. The German authorities will also fail to make us
accept it." At the end of rally a Nazi flag was burnt and the slogan of
"Down With Fascism, Down With Imperialism" was shouted.
CONTACT NUMBER: 0799 057 1894 (ERDEM) or 0171 9232095 (GURKAN)
