Human Rights Defender Dies After 238-Day Hunger Strike in Turkey

A human rights defender, Ebru Timtik, has died in Turkey following a prolonged hunger strike lasting 238 days. She was imprisoned after the controversial case of the 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who was killed during the protests in Istanbul in 2013, and the murder of prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who was investigating the case. Timtik was arrested in 2019 and charged with being a member of the left-wing group Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey. Turkish media reports indicate that Timtik began her hunger strike at the behest of this organization.

She was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison. Timtik started her hunger strike immediately after her imprisonment and died from heart failure on its 238th day. It is noteworthy that the extremist group took prosecutor Kiraz hostage on April 1, 2015, demanding the identification and punishment of the police officer responsible for Elvan's death. Negotiations with the police during the approximately nine-hour standoff ended without positive results, leading to a special operation by Turkish law enforcement, which resulted in the deaths of the group’s members, while Kiraz succumbed to gunshot wounds at the hospital, where efforts to save his life were unsuccessful.