Ebru Timtik, a lawyer affiliated with the Istanbul Çagdaş Bar Association and who had been in prison since 2018 on charges of membership in terrorist groups, died two days ago after a 238-day hunger strike in a Turkish prison.

Referring to the death of Ebru Timtik, Omer Ocalan, the HDP representative from Sanliurfa in Turkish Parliament, said: "The news of Timtik's death was very sad, especially in recent months when a few other civilian activists have dies of hunger strike.

He added: "Today, no one in Turkey can talk about democracy and politics and engage in civil activities. Timtik's death was very sorrowful. She first started a hunger strike and recently refused to drink water or drinks."

Mr. Ocalan continued: "Turkey has become a dictatorial and extremist regime. Turkey started with the policy of Kemalism in 1920 and their source of inspiration was Europe, but today it has turned to Islamic extremism for twenty years. Turkey is pursuing an Ottoman dream through Turkish nationalism.

He added: "Today, talking about democracy and human rights in Turkey is meaningless, and the policy of confrontation with the Kurds has reached its highest situation.

Omer Ocalan stated: "The death of Timtik is a great loss. She was an Alavi Kurdish lawyer from Dersim who sought reconciliation and democracy in Turkey. Today, law no longer exists in Turkey and despite the existence of courts and legal centers; there is no law and justice in Turkey. Since 2018, 18 lawyers have been arrested on fictitious crimes. They were released in the first trial, but were re-arrested after 24 hours under pressure from the government and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and later each one was sentenced to 10 to 18 years in prison.

"There is a lot of oppression against the Kurdish people, but at the same time the civil struggle continues," said the HDP Sanliurfa representative in Turkish parliament.

Criticizing the ruling party AKP MPs and its affiliated officials, Mr.Ocalan said: "It is very unfortunate that the parliamentarians and officials of the AK Party are very happy about this (Timtik’s death). It is immoral to be happy about a person death."

He reminded: "The scale of being Islamic has also been taken from the AK Party and with these behaviors; they have shown how far they have moved away from Islam, ethics and democracy."

The representative of the People's Democratic Party from Sanliurfa in the Turkish Parliament added: "It is a great scandal. There used to be some shame in them, but today they showed their devil face by expressing their happiness over the death of a human being."

Referring to the security atmosphere in Istanbul, Omer Ocalan explained: "Currently, the police are deployed throughout the city, especially in the Kurdish Alavi neighborhood in ​​Istanbul."

Reporter’s code: 50101