Semra Basyigit dies on Hunger Strike

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday August 08, 2002 16:33 by Mags - Solidarity with Hunger Strikers in Turkey thsireland at hotmail dot com

52 Hunger strikers have now died

Protest at Turkish Embassy in Dublin Monday 12th August at 6pm All Welcome! The Turkish Embassy is located at 11 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 (Bus: 7 to Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge, Clyde Road is behind the American Embassy. Nearest DART is Lansdowne Road) Organised by: Solidarity with Hunger Strikers in Turkey

Semra Basyigit dies after 367 days on Hunger Strike

Semra Basyigit has become the 92nd martyr of the prison protests in Turkey and the 52nd person to die on hunger strike in the campaign against the F-type isolation prisons. Despite all the recent media publicity about ‘reforms’ and the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey the hunger strikes continue, ignored by the outside world. More information on the background to the protest can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/turkishhungerstrike

Semra Basyigit was born on July 27, 1978 in Domanic, Kutahya Province. She went to Uludag University, studying in the medical documentation and secretarial faculty. She joined the revolutionary struggle in the middle of 1996. The 1996 Death Fast was one of the most influential events in this period. For a while she was an active correspondent for the periodical Kurtulus ("Liberation"). She was imprisoned on February 3, 1998 and was held for a time in prison. After her imprisonment she resumed the struggle. She evaluated her imprisonment as follows: "As long as the truth is being defended, some of us will be imprisoned. As it appears, it is now our turn. But it must be clear to everyone that they will silence us neither with imprisonment, nor torture, nor massacres. It is a glaringly obvious fact that there is no difference between being inside or outside prison. So there are people who are resisting, both inside the jails and outside them. People resisting for the sake of victory."

Unlike many of the resistance fighters, Semra Basyigit was not in prison in December 19-22, 2000, at the time of the massacre. When the resistance started, she was not in prison. But she knew, she saw, that the F-Types were not just destined for those who were in jail. Outside prison she had taken part in some solidarity actions and when in Bursa she went on hunger strike with a number of relatives and friends of prisoners. Among them was Hulya Simsek, who was to die in the Death Fast.

On January 6, 2001, 10 people were imprisoned, among them Semra Basyigit. From then on, Semra continued her struggle inside prison. She was a volunteer for the Death Fast and joined the 6th Death Fast Team in Kartal Special Prison. She began the Death Fast on July 28, 2001. She died on July 30th after 367 days on hunger strike.