The BDP co-chair visits mayor in hunger strike against wall along Syrian border

NUSAYBİN / MARDİN - Andolu Agency

Nusaybin Mayor Ayşe Gökkan’s sit-in hunger strike near the barbed wires separating Turkey and Syria entered its second day on Nov. 3. AA photo

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Gültan Kışanak visited the mayor of Nusaybin, Ayşe Gökkan, on Nov. 2 in a bid of support for the mayor protesting the decision to build a wall along the border by going on a hunger strike.

“I thank Gökkan for her dignified attitude. She is putting her body and her life at stake against this wall of shame,” Kışanak told reporters after speaking with Gökkan.

“This fight is the fight of all of us: Young people, women, everyone. Let us say it clearly once more: This wall will not be built,” Kışanak added.

Mayor Ayşe Gökkan’s sit-in hunger strike near the barbed wires separating Turkey and Syria entered its second day on Nov. 3. She was briefly transferred to hospital after feeling unwell on Nov.2, but continued with her defiant protest despite medical intervention.

“Her blood sugar is very low. So her blood sometimes drops too much, and sometimes it goes up,” Kışanak said on Gökkan’s health condition.

Following Kışanak’s statements, some 50 members of the BDP, including several provincial municipal assembly members have also initiated hunger strikes in support of Gökkan. A local woman had also joined Gökkan in her protest on Nov. 1.

Several groups gathered both in Nusaybin and Qamishli, right across the Syrian border, to protest against the wall's construction, which started nearly a month ago by the Turkish army to prevent illegal crossings and smugglers.
  
Kışanak said that smuggling was not substantial justification for the comstruction of such a wall.

Turkey had also previously announced the construction of a 2.5-kilometer-long wall along the Cilvegözü border gate with Syria to prevent smuggling activity.