JAILED Kurdish politician Leyla Guven sent a defiant message of hope from her prison cell today as she said the struggle would continue until victory.

In a letter sent to the Morning Star, the former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP said that she was “paying the price of being a representative of a people whose language, culture, identity, existence, politics and freedom to organise are totally forbidden.”

Ms Guven was jailed for 22 years and three months in December 2020 on trumped-up terrorism charges related to her activities with the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), an organisation that campaigns for autonomy for Turkey’s Kurdish population and a peaceful resolution to its so-called Kurdish question.

Despite being invited to government talks on the development of a new Turkish constitution, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) now brands the DTK a terrorist organisation linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

But she said that “Kurds would never have a fair trial” due to the “politicised judiciary” in Turkey, with cases lodged against Kurdish children for throwing stones while security officials kill Kurds and soldiers commit rape with impunity.

Ms Guven explained that she does not regret her defiant stance, insisting that “freedom is only achieved by risking your life” and said: “We are hopeful, we are determined, we are right and we will definitely win.”

“We have bright, beautiful days ahead of us. Together, we will continue to build the free life under the leadership of women,” she concluded.

The Morning Star NUJ Chapel recently awarded Ms Guven honorary membership and is calling an national, regional and local trade union branches to do the same.

The newspaper’s ambassador Maxine Peake spearheaded a “Letters for Leyla” campaign in Britain and called for messages of solidarity to be sent to her in prison.

These can be sent to: [email protected] and will be translated and posted to Ms Guven.