Bay Area Mesopotamia Solidarity Committee (BAMSC) to Stage 24-hour Hunger Strike

Bay Area Mesopotamia Solidarity Committee (BAMSC) will stage a 24-hour fast in solidarity with dissidents Nuriye Gulmen and Semih Ozakca and their hunger strike in Turkey. For 24 hours, members and supporters will consume only salt water, sugar, and lemon while sharing information to raise awareness about the strikers, their demands, and developments in the region.

SUNDAY: MAY 21, 2016

POWELL BART STATION 9:00AM-6:00PM

Bay Area Mesopotamia Solidarity Committee (BAMSC) will stage a 24-hour fast in solidarity with dissidents Nuriye Gulmen and Semih Ozakca and their hunger strike in Turkey. For 24 hours, members and supporters will consume only salt water, sugar, and lemon while sharing information to raise awareness about the strikers, their demands, and developments in the region. Gulmen and Ozakca's hunger strike began on March 9 in response to the ongoing State of Emergency and purge of 145,000 public sector workers by authoritarian president Recep Tayyip Erdogan following last year's failed coup. Thousands of journalists, academics, dissidents, and civilians have also been arrested in the crackdown, with dozens killed by state forces. On May 13, thousands in Turkey and abroad, including four opposition parliamentarians, joined Gulmen and Ozakca in a one-day solidarity fast similar to that planned by BAMSC.

Literature professor Gulmen and primary school teacher Ozakca lost their jobs in the purge. Since their dismissal, they have led an ongoing public demonstration in Ankara, which has been repeatedly evicted and assaulted by police. They began their hunger strike along with 73-year-old Kemal Gun of Dersim, who demanded the state return the body of his son, a leftist guerrilla whose hideout was bombed by government forces. The governor of Tunceli announced on May 15 that his body would be returned.

Gulmen and Ozakca's demands are as follows:

1 – That the State of Emergency be lifted.

2 – That the public sector workers dismissed from their jobs and/or arrested be returned to their positions.

3 – That at-will and unlawful dismissals be stopped.

4 – Job security for the 13,000 Teaching Fellows Program members dismissed in the purge.