Mustafa Koçak

Mustafa Koçak — Biography

Mustafa Koçak was a musician and political activist known for the hunger strike and death fast he carried on in Turkey to demand a fair trial. He was associated with the leftist group Grup Yorum. He died on 24 April 2020, on the 279th day of his protest, in Şakran Prison in İzmir; his death renewed debate in Turkey about prison conditions and fair trials.

He grew up in a working-class family of four children and worked from an early age, from apprenticeship to street vending, to support it. He was arrested on 23 September 2017. Koçak began a hunger strike for his right to a fair trial and later turned it into a death fast. Protests in support were held in countries including the United Kingdom and Germany.

A few hours before he died he spoke to his family by phone and said he could hardly breathe. He weighed 29 kilograms and was buried in Istanbul the same day. His death came about three weeks after that of Grup Yorum member Helin Bölek, who died on 3 April, the 288th day of her death fast.