INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS FOR DEATH FAST RESISTER, POLITICAL PRISONER SERKAN ONUR YILMAZ

Solidarity Tent and Urgent Appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva

From 20-23 August, 2025, a protest tent against the S, R and Y (High Security Prisons) in Turkey is being set up at the United Nations Square near the UN-Office in Geneva.

With this action, members of the Boran Cultural Center in Basel and Peoples’s Front Switzerland draw attention to the serious condition of death fast resister Serkan Onur Yilmaz and all prisoners on indefinite hunger strike in Turkey’s prisons.

The activists talk to press agencies and made a special call to the public to defend the life of Serkan Onur Yilmaz, who could die very soon if the Turkish authorities don’t stop their inhuman prison policies.

On 22 August Sükriye Akar, the wife of political prisoner Fikret Akar who continues an indefinite hunger strike against pit-type isolation prisons for 146 days, personally handed over her urgent appeal to the human rights commission of the UN.

Further, an interview with Sukriye Akar and the organizers of the tent was conducted by the Kurdish Press Agency ANF.

Several protests this week in front of embassies and consulates of Turkey

Before the international action day on 22nd August, this week was already marked by urgent protests in front of Turkey’s foreign representative institutions.

In Paris people gathered in front of the Consulate General of Turkey to defend the life of death fast resister Serkan Onur Yilmaz. Statements were made to express the urgency of the issue and to expose the inhuman conditions in pit-type prisons.

During the action, the appeal for Fikret Akar that was submitted to the UN by his wife, was handed over to the consulate to be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice in Turkey.

An action was held in front of the embassy of Turkey in The Hague in the Netherlands to support the hunger strike resistance and to demand an end to the S, R and Y type High Security Prisons.

Also in the German city Cologne, a protest was held in front of the Consulate of Turkey to defend the life of death fast resister Serkan Onur Yilmaz. A poster of Grup Yorum member Ali Araci was displayed – he continues his indefinite hunger strike in progress for 184 days and which has reached a very critical stage.

On the same day comrades from Group Yorum house made a manifestation in front of Turkish embassy in Berlin.

In the UK the protest actions in front of the embassy of Turkey continue. On the 20th August a rally was held in London in front of the embassy of Turkey with banners to oppose isolation torture and to draw attention to the serious condition of death fast resister Serkan Onur Yilmaz.

August 22: Continuous Solidarity with Serkan Onur Yilmaz and other prisoners in resistance

August 22 was announced as action day for the prisoners on death fast/indefinite hunger strike against S, R and Y isolation prisons in Turkey.

The day of action included a number of solidarity actions, as sending letters to the prisoners, to the Ministry of Justice and also to tag other international institutions as the UN in order to draw attention to the critical situation of Serkan Onur Yilmaz and other prisoners.

Ukraine:

The political prisoners (under house arrest), Ukrainian communists and anti-fascists Mikhail and Alexander Kononovich supported their comrades in Turkey in the struggle for truth and justice. The Kononovich brothers today handed over a statement to the embassy of Turkey in Kiev about the violation of the rights of prisoners in S, R, Y type prisons, which was submitted to the UN by the wife of one of the Turkish political prisoners.

The embassy employees refused to accept this document, but the Kononovich brothers insisted that they be allowed into the embassy and that the officials accept the statement, otherwise they would stand near the embassy until the curfew. The Kononovich brothers declare:

“Freedom for Serkan Onur Yilmaz and other political prisoners of Turkey! The world must know about the atrocities of the Erdogan regime!”

Greece:

A protest meeting was held in front of the embassy of Turkey in Athens, where a coffin was left as a symbol to express the urgent health situation of Serkan Onur Yilmaz.

2 young journalists passed by the action and were informed about the urgent situation of the resistance.

Austria:

In Vienna a protest was held in front of the consulate general of Turkey to draw attention to the unlawful and inhuman prison regime of the AKP government in Turkey and the critical health situation of death fast resister Serkan Onur Yilmaz as a result of the pit-type isolation torture.

During the action in which nine people participated, slogans in solidarity with the resisting prisoners were shouted and the urgent appeal of a prisoner’s relative to the UNHCR was read out to expose the illegal use of isolation torture against political prisoners in Turkey.

Belgium:

An action was held in front of the embassy of Turkey in Brussels to support the death fast resistance of Serkan Onur Yilmaz and in solidarity with all revolutionaries in hunger strike in Turkey to end S-R-Y prisons.

France:

A contribution was also made for the international action day today by comrades of Secours Rouge in Toulouse.
Posters were hung for the freedom and in support of Serkan Onur Yilmaz who has been on death fast for almost 300 days.

Another impressive example of solidarity action for Serkan Onur Yilmaz, on the 285th day of his death fast, was performed in front of the resistance tent of political refugee Zehra Kurtay in Paris.

People draw attention to the struggle against pit-type isolation prisons by wearing shrouds and shields with the names of the prisoners on indefinite hunger strike.

Belarus:

Another example which demonstrates the international reach of the resistance was experienced in Belarus.

A solidarity meeting for Serkan Onur Yilmaz was held in Minsk today, as part of the international action day for the hunger strike resistance in Turkey.