HDP shares video to draw attention to condition of Aysel Tuğluk

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) shared a video on its social media account to draw attention to the condition of the ill prison politician and lawyer Aysel Tuğluk, who was diagnosed with ‘dementia’.

The video shares information about Tuğluk’s health status and a voice over says: “I am one of those whose story of resistance was written before I was born in a difficult land. I was born into a fight and spent a lifetime fighting. What we see and what we witness in our lifetime. When I was 14, they murdered my brother in prison. I always kept this pain in my heart. Afterwards, massacres, deaths, tortures, attacks, detentions and arrests. But I did not stop, it was always necessary to stand up in order to stop the attacks and sufferings common to these people. I did not give up my honourable struggle. My name is Aysel Tuğluk, Kurdish woman politician.”

The video continues: “My first struggle to change the fate of women in the land where I was born began with law. To be a partner in the suffering of a people who are oppressed and persecuted, to advocate making the labor and unity of peoples visible. I continued my work in politics. It was not easy. Like many Kurdish women politicians, I faced many obstacles. I was arrested and put in prison in 2016. Then one day, my mother passed away. Before I could get over the pain, I saw the barbarism carried out at her funeral. The same violence done to many. This should not have been done to our loved ones and our mothers. My mother was one of the mothers who stood straight in this land, despite the many sorrows. Even though my memories are slowly being erased, I do remember what happened. I want to get this out of my mind. No, let them be deleted, I don’t want to hear those voices.”

I don’t know if anyone can hear my voice, but I want to hear you more

The video continued: “Despite a report saying I cannot stay in prison, I am under heavy isolation today, like dozens of ill prisoners. Even though you wrote ‘terrorist’ in the hearing minutes, I did not give up my honourable struggle even for a day. This is exactly why I was sentenced to prison. They are trying to make me forget. I am listening behind the walls, the voices of solidarity of thousands of people. It is the honourable struggle of the peoples that will lead us to the light. I don’t know if anyone can hear my voice, but I want to hear you more.”