İbrahim Gökçek (30 September 1980 – 7 May 2020) was a musician of the Turkish revolutionary band

Grup Yorum Grup Yorum is a band from Turkey known for their political songwriting. Grup Yorum (''yorum'' means 'rendition' of a piece of art or music, 'interpretation' or 'commentary' in Turkish) has released twenty-three albums and one film since 1985. So ...

in which he played the

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

. He died on 7 May 2020 after a 323-day

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

, which he had ended two days before his death. Gökçek was accused of being a high ranking member of the

Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front ( or DHKP-C) is a Turkish Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: or ), and has been involved in a militant campaign against the Rep ...

(DHKP-C) and arrested on 1 May 2019 and charged with "establishing and leading an organisation". In Gökçek's trial the testimony of an anonymous so-called

secret witness A secret witness (or anonymous witness) is a witness which is granted anonymity in a trial by the juridical authority. The identity of the witness is not disclosed to the defendant and the general public except if the secret witness agrees to it. I ...

was used. He joined the ongoing hunger strike of other Grup Yorum members in June 2019. 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. 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. In February 2020 he was released from prison, but he stayed on hunger strike together with Helin Bölek in a house in Küçükarmutlu,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. On 5 May 2020 he ended his hunger strike and was transferred to a hospital for treatment. He died on 7 May 2020. The following day, mourners taking part in a ceremony in memory of Gökçek at an Alevi

cemevi A cemevi or cem evi (pronounced and sometimes written as djemevi; meaning literally "a house of gathering" in Turkish) is a place of fundamental importance for Turkey's Alevi- Bektashiyyah tariqa populations. Certain Alevi organizations describ ...

in the neighbourhood of

Sultangazi Sultangazi is municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 37 km2, and its population is 542,531 (2022). To the west are the neighbourhoods of Esenler and Başakşehir, Gaziosmanpaşa is to the south and Eyüpsultan is ...

were halted by the police and dispersed with teargas. The police broke down the gates to the cemevi, detained several members of Grup Yorum, seized the coffin containing Gökçek corpse. He eventually was buried in

Kayseri Kayseri () is a large List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea (Mazaca), Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since anc ...

. Members of the ultranationalist

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (, MHP), is a Turkish Far-right politics, far-right, ultranationalism, ultranationalist Political parties in Turkey, political party. The group is often de ...

(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 The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though grey ...

offices for a while and dismiss its local chairman.

Personal life

He was married to Sultan Gökçek, who is also a member of Grup Yorum and detained in

Silivri Prison Marmara Prison () or officially Marmara Penitentiaries Campus () formerly Silivri Prison is a supermax, high-security state correctional institution complex in the Silivri district of Istanbul Province in Turkey. Established in 2008, it is the c ...

References

1980 births 2020 deaths Place of birth missing Turkish musicians Turkish male guitarists Hunger strikers People who died on hunger strike {{crime-bio-stub