The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found the sentencing of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to aggravated life imprisonment without the right to conditional release (right to hope) on March 18, 2014 to be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECHR asked Turkey to make adjustments. The ECHR later issued similar rulings for prisoners Hayati Kaytan, Emin Gurban and Civan Boltan. However, Turkey has not taken any action on the “violation” judgment despite the 10 years that have passed. 

 

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, in its meeting held between September 17-19, once again put the ECtHR's violation judgments on its agenda after 3 years. The Committee demanded that the necessary measures be taken without delay. The Committee warned that if no steps are taken, an interim decision will be prepared at the meeting in September 2025.

 

STATEMENT BY DEM PARTY

 

Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Law and Human Rights Commission Co-spokesperson Öztürk Türkdoğan and commission member Nuray Özdoğan made a statement at the party headquarters on Abdullah Öcalan's “right to hope”. 

 

Türkdoğan reminded the ECHR's decision and said that the Committee acted slowly when it comes to Abdullah Öcalan. Türkdoğan said: “The date of the ruling is 2014, the Committee of Ministers corresponded with Turkey in 2015 about putting this issue on its agenda, but did not put it on its agenda until 2021. In this process, both Mr. Öcalan's lawyers and rights and legal organizations in Turkey made various notifications to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. In September 2021, the Committee of Ministers stated that Turkey should submit an action plan. Three years have passed. Turkey has not complied with any of the recommendations. It did not abolish the aggravated life imprisonment, did not recognize the 'right to hope'. It has imposed an uninterrupted isolation. This cannot be accepted.” 

 

'APPLY THE VIOLATION PROCEDURE'

 

Türkdoğan stated that the committee is acting with political motives, “This is the case not only in this group of cases but also in many other cases. It is a situation that concerns thousands of people and Turkey insists on not taking steps on this issue. The decision given this year is a little stronger than in 2021. It asks for a definite deadline, at least until next year, and for an interim decision to be prepared if the requirements are not met. Actually, without further ado, we would like to make a call to the committee. The European Convention on Human Rights is clear. If a country persistently and willfully fails to comply with the ECHR decisions, you have to initiate a violation procedure. So if Turkey does not recognize the right to hope in a short period of time and does not fulfill its requirements, our expectation from the Committee is to fulfill the convention.”

 

CALL TO PARLIAMENT

 

Türkdoğan continued as follows: “We would like to make an appeal to the Parliament; there is an incredible discrimination in Turkey. There is discrimination between those who are subject to 'Anti-Terrorism' decisions and those who are not. But in the case of Mr. Öcalan, a special provision has been included in the execution law. Provisional Article 2 has been added. Can there be a special article in the law for one person? It is not possible to accept such a thing. For this reason, we want the parties and MPs with groups in the Parliament to submit a law proposal for the abolition of Article 25, paragraphs 2 and 16 of Article 107, paragraph 9 of Article 110, provisional article 2, provisional paragraph 6-2 and provisional paragraphs 9-6 of the Execution Law and we want this to be enacted into law. Both discrimination will be eliminated and the 'right to hope' will be fulfilled.”

 

EXECUTION REGULATION IS MANDATORY

 

Therefore, it is imperative for Turkey to abandon its attitude of postponing the problem in the face of this growing problem and to reorganize the execution law in accordance with the case law of the ECtHR as soon as possible. Our party's parliamentary group has repeatedly submitted law proposals on this issue. The most recent bill is a proposal to abolish aggravated life imprisonment and to regulate the execution regime instead. We would like to express once again that these must be taken into consideration and evaluated as soon as possible and the necessary action must be taken.”

 

Türkdoğan called on the political power and public opinion and stated that the way to achieve peace is through the ending of isolation. 

 

IT IS NOT ONLY THE DEMAND OF OUR PARTY 

 

Speaking at the meeting, commission member Nuray Özdoğan said: “Demand for Mr. Öcalan and thousands of prisoners is not only the demand of our party. Our party conveys the demand of a large segment of the people to you. It is addressing the authorities who have to take responsibility in this matter. Today, when you do not apply the law of justice anywhere, when you apply the law as it suits you, all the mechanisms of a state decay. It is difficult to achieve peace in a people whose demand for justice has been hurt. For this reason, we act with the responsibility of a political party and invite the institutions of the state and the government to be responsible towards this people.” 

 

Stating that the peoples' demand for the ending of the isolation should not be ignored, Özdoğan said: “All the peoples of Turkey must speak out. This is the problem and issue of all the peoples of Turkey. For this reason, we will continue to voice it louder. We think that if the door to peace is to be opened for all the peoples of Turkey, the isolation must be eliminated as a priority. We invite everyone to take responsibility on this issue.”