Helin Bolek

Helin Bölek was a Kurdish singer and member of the leftist Turkish folk music band Grup Yorum. She was born in Diyarbakır, Turkey, on June 5, 1991, and worked in art during her youth. She joined Grup Yorum as a soloist in 2015. Grup Yorum was founded in 1985 and became known for their songs of resistance and protest against the oppression and injustice of the Turkish state. The band faced constant harassment, censorship, arrests, and raids by the authorities, who accused them of having links to a terrorist organization. In May 2019, Bölek and three other members of the band started an "indefinite and irreversible" hunger strike, demanding an end to the bans on their concerts, the release of their imprisoned colleagues, and the removal of their names from the wanted lists. Bölek continued her hunger strike even after being released from prison in November 2019. She died on April 3, 2020, at the age of 28, after 288 days of fasting. Her death sparked outrage and grief among her fans and supporters, who defied the police and carried her coffin to the cemevi (Alevi house of worship) in Okmeydanı, Istanbul. She was buried in the Feriköy Cemetery in Şişli, Istanbul, amid chants of "Helin is immortal" and "Long live Grup Yorum". Bölek left behind a legacy of songs that inspired millions of people to fight for freedom, democracy, and human rights in Turkey and beyond.