PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who was brought to Turkey with an international conspiracy, has been held in Imrali Type F High Security Prison since February 15, 1999, in severe isolation conditions. While all kinds of communication with family and lawyer opinions within the borders of İmralı are carried out with bans, there has been no news for 28 months from Hamili Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş, the PKK Leader and imprisoned in the same prison. While the isolation system, which has turned into "no news" on Imrali Island, is deepened, those who express this situation, which is against the law, are faced with prosecutions. The last example of this is, “If the normal execution laws were valid, he should have been released, house arrest etc. The isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan has no place in law. TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, who said that isolation should be removed, was arrested within the scope of the investigation opened after being targeted.

 

Journalist İrfan Aktan commented on the isolation and inability to receive news about PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, and the arrest of journalist Merdan Yanardag, who expressed this.

 

'YANARDAĞ DESTROYED THE SILENCE'

 

Stating that for the first time in a long time, the Kurdish movement drew attention to the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan by a journalist outside of the Kurdish media, Aktan said:"Yanardağ was targeted and arrested in this context. Yanardağ has been made a target because he destroyed the silence and memorization that the government wants to make dominate the non-defense of Öcalan's human rights. It should not be forgotten that Öcalan is a citizen of the Republic of Türkiye. Being in prison cannot deprive Öcalan of his citizenship rights and his rights to equality before the law. What Merdan Yanardag did was to remind us of this.”

 

'ÖCALAN IS EXCLUDED BY THE LAW'

 

Stating that Abdullah Öcalan is completely isolated from the outside world and deprived of basic human rights in İmralı Prison, where he is held, Aktan said: "According to the Constitution, everyone is equal before the law and that there can be no personal laws. Öcalan is held outside the law. How could Merdan Yanardağ have committed a crime by saying that the sanction that is not applied to any prisoner or prison in Turkey is against Öcalan? Did they lie? Isn't Öcalan in isolation? Is he allowed to meet with his lawyers and family? No! Is it possible to hear from him and the prisoners next to him? No! In this way, the state keeps four of its citizens unable to receive news from the world and cannot be heard from. This practice has no place in both Turkish and international law. How could Yanardağ have committed a crime by saying this? Or is it a crime to say that Öcalan reads a lot of books?”

 

'IT CANNOT BE A CRIME TO SAY THAT A CRIME IS A CRIME'

 

Aktan said: "The law of execution is clearly violated, and those who draw attention to this violation and say 'Do not violate the law' are considered to have committed a crime. Why is it a crime to say 'don't break the law'? While it is not a crime to praise Öcalan during the resolution process, or even to say that he should be released from prison, why is it now a crime to say that the isolation should be lifted? What has changed legally in this process? There is no change between Öcalan's legal situation during the resolution process and his current legal situation; moreover, Yanardağ does not praise Öcalan, he reminds us of an undeniable truth. Why is Öcalan not allowed to meet with anyone? Why is this right violated? States work and operate with laws. Every citizen is equal before the law. No one can be excluded from the law. The opposite is a violation of the law, therefore a crime. It cannot be a crime to say that a crime is a crime!”

 

'STATE CANNOT VIOLATE ITS OWN LAW'

 

Emphasizing that laws cannot be violated, Aktan said: “Although counter-propaganda against Öcalan is systematically directed, the state cannot make any distinction between its citizens. The state cannot violate its own law. The state cannot say, 'The penal code, the law of execution orders such and such, but that prisoner is excluded from this law' and cannot go about such an application. The state has no realm outside the law; otherwise, there is no state. In that case, Öcalan has the same rights and duties as all prisoners in Turkey have. It is not a crime to say that Öcalan should use the rights of prisoners, and those who say this cannot and should not be prosecuted."

 

MA / Yüsra Batıhan