Grup Yorum member İbrahim Gökçek ends death fast on 323rd day

İbrahim Gökçek ended his death fast on the 323rd day on May 5 and was taken to a hospital for treatment. Grup Yorum announced that Gökçek ended his death fast "since the resistance have reached a political victory." "The entire world learned about this resistance. We gained a political victory and talks are going positive," the group said.

Duvar English

A musician from Grup Yorum ended his death fast on the 323rd day on May 5 and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Grup Yorum announced that İbrahim Gökçek ended his death fast "since the resistance have reached a political victory."

"The entire world learned about this resistance. We gained a political victory and talks are going positive," the group said, referring to talks on Gökçek's demands.

Gökçek had been on a death fast with a number of demands, including the ban on their concerts to be lifted, the removal of the group's members' names from terror lists and the raids of İdil Culture Center, where the group carries out its works, to be stopped.

My son wants to live, death fasting Turkish musician's father saysMy son wants to live, death fasting Turkish musician's father says

Founded in 1985 as a reaction to the 1980 military coup and the subsequent military policies, Grup Yorum is known with its leftist stance and songs about political issues in Turkey. The group has always been vocal about human rights violations and freedoms in the country, prompting authorities to accuse them of being “members of terrorist groups” often.

According to Grup Yorum, an application was filed for a concert to be given.

"We hope that it will result positively," it said.

Another death fasting musician from the group, Helin Bölek, died on the 288th day of her death fast in Istanbul's Sarıyer district on April 3.

Human rights defenders have been calling on authorities to accept Gökçek's demands to make him live.

Gökçek's father Ahmet Gökçek previously told Duvar that his son wants to live.

"He did nothing wrong. They were trying to perform the art of the people. However, the government brought them to these days via holding a grudge against them. They were put to terror lists for no reason. They wanted to struggle for this to be lifted, because they were left with no other choice. Helin and İbrahim didn't think of dying," Gökçek said on April 28.

Topics human rights defenders human rights in Turkey Grup Yorum Helin Bölek İbrahim Gökçek Ahmet Gökçek İdil Culture Center