ISTANBUL - As the 42nd month of no news from PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali has entered its 42nd month, 587 applications made by lawyers requesting a meeting with him have remained inconclusive.

 

The state of preventing any news from PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali Type F High Security Closed Prison has entered its 42nd month. His lawyers were last able to meet with their client on August 7, 2019. The last face-to-face meeting of Abdullah Öcalan with his family was on March 3, 2020, while the last phone call was with his brother Mehmet Öcalan on March 25, 2021, which was interrupted. No news was received from Abdullah Öcalan after the interrupted phone call. In addition to Abdullah Öcalan, other prisoners Hamili Yıldırım, Veysi Aktaş and Ömer Hayri Konar have not been heard from for 42 months. 

 

587 APPLICATIONS REMAINED INCONCLUSIVE

 

While the absolute isolation, which is described as “incommunicado” in international legal literature, continues, attempts by lawyers and families to meet continue. Every week, lawyers from Asrin Law Office and families make new applications to both Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and İmralı Prison Directorate requesting a meeting. Since March 25, 2021, the date of the last contact with Abdullah Öcalan, a total of 587 applications have been made to Bursa Public Prosecutor's Office and İmralı Prison, 405 of which were made by lawyers and 182 by families. However, all these applications were either left unanswered or rejected on the grounds of “disciplinary penalties” for which no justification was given.

 

CALL FROM NOBEL LAUREATES

 

International initiatives against the lack of news from İmralı continue. On October 10, 2023, intellectuals, writers and academics from 74 countries launched a campaign with the slogan “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Democratic Solution to the Kurdish Issue”. On the other hand, 69 Nobel Laureates wrote letters to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the UN Human Rights Committee (OHCHR). The same names then wrote to AKP Chair and President Tayyip Erdoğan to demand the lifting of the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. In the letter sent to Erdoğan, they called for the release of the PKK leader and a peaceful solution to the conflict with the Kurds.

 

'RIGHT TO HOPE' NOTIFICATION TO THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

 

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) has decided to revisit the European Court of Human Rights' (ECtHR) 2014 ruling on the “violation” of Abdullah Öcalan's sentence of life imprisonment without the right to conditional release (the right to hope) after a 3-year hiatus. Ahead of the Committee of Ministers' meeting on September 17-19, the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), Human Rights Association (İHD), Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), Association of Contemporary Lawyers (ÇHD), Civil Society in the Penal System (CİSST) and Society and Law Research Foundation (TOHAV) submitted a written statement to the Committee. They reminded the committee of the ECtHR's violation judgment and called on Turkey to make the necessary legislative changes.

 

APPLICATION FROM LAWYERS TO CPT

 

Lawyers from Asrin Law Office also submitted a new application to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) for their client PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and 3 other prisoners in İmralı. In the report covering the period between May 1 and July 30, 2024, the lawyers pointed out that the procedure that was not applied to İmralı was recently applied to Azerbaijan and demanded an ad hoc visit to İmralı immediately.

 

IMRALI APPLICATION FROM DEM PARTY MEMBER ÖCALAN

 

Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Rîha MP Ömer Öcalan has submitted an application to both the Ministry of Justice and the Presidency requesting a meeting with Abdullah Öcalan. DEM Party member Öcalan, who applied to the General Secretariat of the Presidency by fax and mail, drew attention to the fact that Abdullah Öcalan is not allowed to meet with his lawyers and family. 

 

MA / İbrahim Irmak