Showing posts with label Grup Yorum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grup Yorum. Show all posts

Thursday, May 7, 2020

İbrahim Gökçek passed away. İbrahim Gökçek lives. He will always be remembered



Unfortunately, İbrahim Gökçek passed away as his health had been irreversibly damaged due to his death fast. He is the third martyr of Grup Yorum in their struggle for artistic and political freedom after Helin Bölek and Mustafa Koçak. The struggle will continue to free all imprisoned Grup Yorum members on terrorism charges, among whom is Ibrahim's partner Sultan.

Helin, Mustafa and Ibrahim will always live in our minds and our hearts and they will be our shining path until the violent destruction of capitalism, imperialism and fascism, until the victory of communism.


Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Sacrifice And Struggle: Victory for Grup Yorum





After 323 days of death fast, İbrahim Gökçek, bassist of the Turkish reolutionary political music group Grup Yorum ended his hunger strike. Grup Yorum had their musical instruments destroyed during a raid of the Turkish police into their cultural center in Istanbul and their members were imprisoned on charges of being linked to the banned DHKP-C, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, which has been conducting armed struggle against the Turkish state for many decades. Grup Yorum has always had a political stance and condemned and publicized the atrocities committed by the Turkish state and the condition of prison in Turkey.

In 2019, the members of Grup Yorum started a death fast demanding to be allowed to play music and play concerts, while still imprisoned. Singer Helin Bölek died on April 3 after 288 days at the age of 28, and the march during her funeral was suppressed. Mustafa Koçak died on April 24 after 297 at the age of 28, while imprisoned and tied on his bed.





Ibrahim's demand was the Grup Yorum be allowed to play live again, and if that demand was accepted he would stop his hunger strike. The acceptance of the demand and the end of the death fast is a political victory of the freedom struggle against of the oppression of people's and artist's rights. The fight continues to help Ibrahim stand back on his feet and to free all imprisoned Grup Yorum members.