Hunger striking father to finally receive son’s bones in Turkey’s east

TUNCELİ

An 83-day hunger strike by a father demanding to be given his dead son’s remains has yielded a result as the Tunceli Governor’s Office said it would agree to return the remains of Murat Gün following his father’s weeks-long struggle.

Kemal Gün, 70, has been on hunger strike since Feb. 24 to demand the return of the body of his son, who was killed alongside 10 other militants in a Turkish air strike on the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) in central Tunceli on Nov. 7, 2016.

Tunceli Bar Head Barış Yıldırım and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) district head Ali Rıza Güder visited the Tunceli Governor’s Office on May 17 to discuss Gün’s demand. 

Following the meeting, Yıldırım said the bones would be delivered to the father, daily Evrensel reported. 

Yıldırım told the daily that the bones would initially be delivered to the municipality by the chief public prosecutor’s office before being delivered to Gün for burial. 

Gün needs to tell the governor’s office about the exact spot he will bury his son, he also said. 

“As the Tunceli Bar, it’s pleasing for us that the issue ended this way before reaching a dire point in terms of Kemal Gün’s right to live. This was also conveyed to Kemal Gün,” Yıldırım said. 

Gün, however, said he would not end his hunger strike until he receives all of his son’s remains. 

“I won’t end my hunger strike until I receive all the bones of my son. Only 160 bones were sent. The bones I collected with my own hands filled half a bag. They should give all of them to me,” Gün said, adding that he would bury the bones in a village in the eastern province of Erzurum. 

The bones were previously sent to the Istanbul forensic medicine institute for a DNA test. The institute completed its study and the bones are expected to reach the chief public prosecutor’s office next week. 

Gün has begun to lose sight as a result of his hunger strike.