Elderly father who ended hunger strike after 90 days taken to hospital in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

A father in the eastern province of Tunceli who ended his hunger strike after 90 days, demanding the return of the remains of his dead son, has been taken to hospital in Istanbul. 

Kemal Gün ended his hunger strike after finally receiving his son’s bones on May 26.

The 71-year-old Gün was taken to Istanbul University’s Çapa Medical Faculty Hospital after suffering from loss of vision related to poor nutrition, his lawyer Oya Aslan has said.

Aslan said there was no clear date for when he would be released from hospital, adding that he was also suffering from problems walking.

Gün had been on a hunger strike in a park in central Tunceli, demanding the retrieval of the dead body of his son, who was killed in a Turkish air strike carried out against the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). 

Murat Gün was killed in the Ced Valley of Tunceli in an air strike carried out on Nov. 7, 2016, after which his father was awaiting his son’s body for burial.

The Tunceli Governor’s Office previously decided to give the bones back to the father. They were delivered to the Tunceli Municipality by the Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office before being given to Gün to be buried in Hozat Cemetery on May 24.

The Governor’s Office released a statement after the delivery, saying the delay was caused by a DNA examination at the forensic medicine institute. 

His lawyer Aslan said Gün lost 18 kilograms during his hunger strike.