The academician Nuriye Gülmen and the teacher Semih Özakça ended their hunger strike in the 324th day with the words "the resistance has given us our freedom".

Both lost their work as a result of the emergency decrees issued directly by the fascist dictatorship under pretext of state of emergency.

On November 9, 2016, resistances against the emergency decrees started on Yüksel Street in the heart of Ankara. The actions had the demand "we want our work back!" and were continued despite almost daily arrests and police raids. The hunger strike was declared during the protests in front of the Statue of Human Rights, after which the resistance spread to several cities. Due to the growing resistance, both hungerstrikers were arrested on May 23, 2017 and the statue of human rights was cordoned off by the police. Semih Özakça's wife Esra Özakça and his mother Sultan Özakça also started a hunger strike to protest the arrest. Esra finished this after 248 days. The so-called resistance of Yüksel went on even after the arrest on a daily basis. This time a large number of people were arrested for demanding "Freedom for Nuriye and Semih!," as well as "Nuriye and Semih shall live." The palace dictatorship accused the two hunger strikers of membership in the DHKP-C. The lawyers of the two were arrested shortly before the second day of the trial. After their request for resumption of their work was rejected by the committee of the state of emergency, there was a press meeting on January 26. In their statement, they said, "Where oppression prevails, resistance is a right. We have received the committee's response to our demand for return to work. We saw that this demand was rejected. We will appeal by legal means. And today in the 324th day we will end the hunger strike. The resistance on Yüksl Street will continue. "

Hunger strikers Semih Özakca, Nuriye Gülmen, Esra Özakca and Mehmet Güven, who also joined the hunger strike, will be treated at Dışkapı Hospital in Ankara.