ISTANBUL - Lawyer of Abdullah Öcalan, Rezan Sarıca, who evaluated Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç's statement about the isolation as "intended to cover up the crime of torture in Imrali", said: "If there is no isolation, why does the government not announce the CPT report?" 

 

There has been no news from Abdullah Öcalan and prisoners Hamili Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş, who are held in Imrali Type F High Security Closed Prison, for 39 months. While the state of absolute lack of communication continued in Imrali, Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç, speaking at the meeting of the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission, denied the isolation. Tunç responded to Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Deputy Newroz Uysal Aslan's question about the isolation by saying, "There is no isolation, the decisions of the execution judge are being implemented."

 

SOLUTION POWER OF ABDULLAH ÖCALAN 

 

Rezan Sarıca, one of the lawyers of Asrın Law Firm, said that Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç's claims that there is no isolation in Imrali were "intended to cover up the crime of torture in Imrali".

 

Sarıca said: "Mr. Öcalan is a person who has developed solutions to the wars and conflicts in the Middle East and has repeatedly put forward the theory of living together in a peaceful order. Kurds, the people of the Middle East and all humanity with left-socialist thoughts see this. The Kurds have adopted Mr. Öcalan's ideas in terms of his interlocutor and solution power on the Kurdish issue and have demonstrated this many times. Millions of signatures were collected for Mr. Öcalan's freedom in 2005-2006-2013 and were presented to both the Parliament and the Council of Europe. Mr. Öcalan's peaceful solution line has been accepted by the state and shown to the world, both in Imrali, Oslo and Dolmabahçe Palace. During these historical developments, those sitting at the table knew and accepted the truth of Mr. Öcalan. "hanging the government's policies or political preferences today does not eliminate these facts."

 

Stating that the books containing Abdullah Öcalan's Democratic Nation paradigm were registered by the Constitutional Court within the scope of freedom of thought in 2014, "In December 2023, the Supreme Court decided to publish the books about the Democratic Nation that we mentioned, in the same way, within the scope of freedom of expression. Now, could this country's Minister of Justice be unaware of these decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court? Or how compatible with his duty is making statements contrary to these decisions? We do not accept this approach and do not see it as correct. It is not compatible with the constitutional, legal order and historical sociological truth" Sarıca said.

 

'THE STATEMENTS INTENDED TO LEGITIMATE ISOLATION'

 

Sarıca stated that the ministry's statements were "deceptive and aimed at legitimizing the lack of news in Imrali" Sarıca said: "When we look at the statements of the Ministry of Justice, we see that it aims to legitimize the illegal practices in Imrali, namely isolation and torture, and that it has an approach that shows that it has abused its power. We see that the Minister of Justice is avoiding responsibility. Again, we see that there is an approach to create confusion and ambiguity regarding what isolation is and what it corresponds to as a concept. The fundamental rights and freedoms of people in prisons need to be ensured. However, if you restrict or prohibit one of these rights, this may already amount to isolation. In Imrali, our clients are being held in conditions that exceed the limits of the isolation we mentioned, the level of violence is high and it is even unclear what is happening. In other words, the current conditions in Imrali have the potential to exceed torture and inhumane conditions. Isolation is a concept that is much further behind this."

 

'WHY ARE CPT REPORTS NOT DISCLOSED?'

 

"If there is no torture or isolation in Imrali, then why does the government not have the courage to disclose the CPT report, which has been in its possession since March 2023?" Sarıca asked and continued as follows: "Similarly, why does it ignore the UN's injunction, which states that the conditions in Imrali must be improved as soon as possible and that he must be allowed to meet with his lawyers immediately? Again, why can't it have the foresight to comply with the CPT's recommendations that have been put forward for years that conditions should be improved? Despite the CPT reports finding that the reasons for the disciplinary punishments in Imrali were deceptive, why is the Ministry of Justice deceiving the society by ignoring this? Or if they claim that family and lawyer bans are 'lawful', why is everything done secretly from the lawyers?"

 

MA / İbrahim Irmak