Letter from Nuriye Gülmen, Turkey's jailed dismissed academic on hunger strike
On the 109th day her hunger strike, Turkey’s dismissed academic who has been jailed for over a month released a letter, where she said ‘If the concern is about our ‘hunger’, then, we should not even be mentioning it in a world where children wake up to holiday mornings in hunger!’
Academic Nuriye Gülmen and elementary school teacher Semih Özakça are two educators in Turkey – among thousands - who have been dismissed with the order of an emergency decree. While their hunger strike, which they started to demand their jobs back, has already marked its 100th day, they have also spent more than a month of this time in jail, since the morning of May 22nd when their houses were raided by police in an early morning operation.
Though their fight has received great concern both nationally and internationally, government officials of Turkey have stayed away from giving much attention, if any, to it.
Letter of Nuriye Gülmen, which she wrote on the 105th day of her hunger strike, is as follows:
‘Today is June 21st. We are on the 105th day of our hunger strike. On Sunday (June 25), the Muslim people will be celebrating Eid.
And, I will be experiencing my first Eid away from my family and loved ones. This will also be the first holiday for me spent in hunger.
What could our hunger really mean in a world where millions of children go to bed hungry every night and where millions of people in the world are hungry for justice? If the concern is about our ‘hunger’, then, we should not even be mentioning it in a world where children wake up to holiday mornings in hunger! But today, what our hunger means is something way beyond the hunger felt in the stomach. The hunger that we are going through is an effort to be the voice of all people who are hungry for justice, bread, and honor in the current crisis in the world in 21st century, where imperialism has made all people of the world pay a price.
This year’s Eid will not be the best holiday we’ve had ever. We are going to celebrate the best days when the people get satisfied with justice. But for now, we will also know how to celebrate it with what we have in hand.
We are going to celebrate the upcoming holiday with the joy of living in integrity. We are going to celebrate it in joy under the same sky with all those ‘good warriors’ of the ongoing fight for earning one’s bread in honor.
Our hunger on the 109th day will be dedicated to the children of the world who wake up to holiday mornings in hunger.”
Translated by Burcu Gündoğan
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/acligimiz-cocuklar-icin-166685.html