İbrahim Gökçek

İbrahim Gökçek (30 September 1980 – 7 May 2020) was a musician of the Turkish revolutionary band Grup Yorum[1] in which he played the bass guitar.[2][3] He died on 7 May 2020 after a 323-day hunger strike, which he had ended two days before his death.[4]

Gökçek was accused of being a high ranking member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C)[3] and arrested on 1 May 2019 and charged with "establishing and leading an organisation".[4] In Gökçek's trial the testimony of an anonymous so-called secret witness was used.[3][5] He joined the ongoing hunger strike of other Grup Yorum members in June 2019.[6] The demands of the hunger strikers were that the Turkish government end the suppression of the group, release its members from prison, and allow them to give concerts.[7] On 4 January 2020, he and Helin Bölek turned their hunger strike into a death fast. On 14 January 2020 the prosecution demanded a life sentence for Gökçek.[8] In February 2020 he was released from prison, but he stayed on hunger strike together with Helin Bölek in a house in Küçükarmutlu, Istanbul.[9] On 5 May 2020 he ended his hunger strike and was transferred to a hospital for treatment. He died on 7 May 2020.[10]

The following day, mourners taking part in a ceremony in memory of Gökçek at an Alevi cemevi in the neighbourhood of Sultangazi were halted by the police and dispersed with teargas.[2] The police broke down the gates to the cemevi, detained several members of Grup Yorum, seized the coffin containing Gökçek corpse.[11] He eventually was buried in Kayseri.[12] Members of the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) took to the streets and have threatened to unearth Ibrahim Gökçek and set his body on fire, as they view him as a terrorist. The protests caused the MHP to close the Grey Wolves offices for a while and dismiss its local chairman.[13]