No News About The Leader of a People
There is no news from the political prisoner and Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah OCALAN. The Turkish state has banned all contact with Mr. OCALAN. The Kurdish people and their friends are seriously concerned for Mr. OCALAN’s life and health.
Ocalan is being held in a single cell on the prison island of Imrali and since the 5th of April, 2015. He has been kept in intensified isolation. The Turkish state renewed its war efforts against the Kurds when it imprisoned Ocalan and kept him under solitary confinement. For the past 17 months Ocalan has not been allowed to meet with his lawyers or family, or anyone else. The European Committee on Prevention of Torture (CPT) which does not need permission to meet with Ocalan has not fulfilled its responsibility of ensuring solitary confinement does not extend indefinitely and the Ocalan has access to lawyers, family visits and health care.
For years the Kurdish people have organised vigils outside the CPT, and for the past four years a permanent vigil has been ongoing. Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered for demonstrations and ten million people signed a petition which was presented to international institutions. Despite all these efforts the required sensitivity was not shown and the Turkish state’s policy towards Ocalan remains unchanged. Due to the urgency of the situation Yazidi Kurds are currently undertaking an indefinite hunger strike to call upon the CPT to take urgent action. We urge international organisations and the CPT to understand the concern of the Kurdish people and their friends and visit Ocalan in Imrali Island at the earliest.
The Kurdish people and their Freedom Movement have always been seriously concerned about the intensive isolation of applied to Ocalan. However, with the attempted coup of 15 July, 2016 the concerns about Ocalan’s life and health have assumed added gravity. Who can say that the coup plotters that killed hundreds of people with helicopters and tanks would not target or have not already targeted Imrali Island? Everyone knows that the coup plotters have for a long time held animosity towards Ocalan and the PKK in Turkey.
Since the failed coup Ocalan’s family and lawyers have applied to visit him to allay their concerns for his life and health but they have been denied permission. The AKP government’s extraordinary chauvinism and hostility have alarmed the Kurdish people. All of factors heighten concerns for Ocalan.
Mr. Ocalan’s life and security is, fundamentally, a political question. If Turkey’s most important question is the Kurdish question, then Mr. Ocalan’s situation is a serious political question.
The EU`s and CPT’s failure to take a proactive interest in the treatment meted out to Mr Ocalan undermines ideas of civil liberties, rule of law, human rights and political freedoms that Europeans cherish as the founding values of their society.
- The treatment of Mr. Ocalan is vital to the Kurdish people.
- The Kurds and their friends demand an urgent meeting with Mr. Ocalan and his freedom.
- The treatment of Mr Ocalan is vital for the credibility of European values of human rights.
- The EU, EC and CPT are responsible for the wellbeing of Mr. Ocalan.
Committee for the freedom of OCALAN and political prisoners
