Vegan prisoner on hunger strike?

Association of Freedom for World staged a demonstration yesterday to protest K?r?kkale F-Type High Security Prison’s negligence about the demands of vegan prisoner Osman Evcan for the last four years.
Making a statement to the press in front of Galatasaray High School in Istanbul, members of the Association of Freedom for World underlined that prisoner Evcan’s situation hasn’t been improved despite the application letters he wrote so far to express his situation. The statement added that; “Following the one-year process shaped with the insensitivity of authorities and their criminal acts, Osman Evcan has begun a hunger strike as of 4 November.
Osman Evcan’s friends have launched a campaign on internet (http://osmanayemek.tumblr.com/english) where there is also a petition to sign. The support campaign is called the Campaign for Vegan Food to Osman Evcan has been started, but so far, the petitions to the authorities by Evcan himself and by the Campaign have been ignored. A member of parliament, Melda Onur, submitted a written question to Ministry of Interior in the National Assembly asking as to why Evcan’s issue is being ignored and not considered. She visited Evcan in prison, but the prison authorities wouldn’t let her give the food she brought for Evcan.
WHO IS OSMAN EVCAN?

Evcan is a political prisoner in Turkey  kept in high security solitary confinement prison. Due to his political and ethical convictions, Evcan became a vegan (strict vegetarian who avoids all animal products) eight years ago.?Since the Turkish authorities do not respect his right to pursue a vegan diet, Evcan has been suffering from variety of health issues as he is not getting enough vegan food to eat and he is unable to pursue a balanced diet.?In a letter he wrote from prison, Evcan mentions prison authorities giving him food in an unhygienic state and there have been instances where harmful additives and chemicals have been intentionally added to his food.?In his last letter on the 6th of November 2011, Evcan added that on an arbitrary basis, prison officers have not being providing him with escorts, so that he misses medical appointments. Having already boycotted the prison food and managing by purchasing his own food at prison cafeteria, he says in his last letter that he needs to strengthen his attitude to be heard. Therefore he started an on-going hunger strike on 4 November 2011 for an indefinite time until his demands are met.

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