URFA - ÖHD Urfa Branch applied to the Urfa Bar Association after PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan was not allowed to meet with his lawyers and was prevented from working as a lawyer.

 

The Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) Urfa Branch applied to the Urfa Bar Association after lawyers were denied access to meet with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Veysi Aktaş and Hamili Yıldırım, who are being held under heavy isolation conditions in İmralı F Type High Security Prison. 39 lawyers, who applied to the Urfa Bar Association regarding the prevention of their legal profession, held a press conference after the application.

 

Speaking at the meeting, ÖHD Urfa Branch member, Lawyer Serdar Tüm said lawyers were prevented from visiting PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan for the last 3 years and prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Veysi Aktaş and Hamili Yıldırım since 2015.

 

Stating that it is not possible for anyone detained in prison to be prevented from being visited by their lawyer for so long based on national or international legislation, Tüm said, "It is clear that İmralı is being used as a black hole in the current legal system. Being aware of the fact that the extra-legal isolation in Imrali means a deadlock in the Kurdish question, which is also Turkey's most structural problem, as lawyers from the ÖHD, we have taken various initiatives so far to prevent this unlawfulness from escalating and spreading further into society.

 

CALL TO TBB

 

Emphasizing that, according to the Law on Advocacy, bar associations are professional organizations in the nature of public institutions that carry out all work to defend and protect the rule of law, human rights, and meet the common needs of lawyers, have legal personality, Tüm told that they also made a call to the Turkish Bar Associations and invited them to their jobs.