12 July 2017
We stand by the heroic hunger-strike by academician Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça, members of Education and Science Workers’ Union, Turkey, since 9 November 2016 protesting against their dismissal following the declaration of Emergency.
We in India know how powerful this form of non-violent resistance is, from the deep marks left in the hearts of our compatriots by many hunger-strikers such as Jatin Das in the colonial period and Irom Sharmila Chanu in the present times.
We have also gone through the painful years of Emergency and know from our experience that repression does not win in the end.
We firmly believe that the courage and conviction of Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça will be victorious, defeating all repressive policies.
In solidarity
Dhiraj Sengupta, General Secretary, Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR)
Subhendu Dasgupta, former Member of Faculty, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Calcutta
Dr Meher Engineer, Physicist (retired)
Dr Partho Sarothi Ray, Assistant professor and Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata
