İSTANBUL - Stating that the freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan will be achieved through mass struggle, Politician Nursel Aydoğan said Öcalan must be free in order for a solution to the Kurdish question and democracy.

 

Asrın Law Office released the report of the violation of rights in the last year in İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison, where PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan is held, on February 22. Noting that no news has been heard from Öcalan for the last 11 months, the report stated that there has been a "torture" regime in İmralı since the beginning of the aggravated execution regime. The report, which includes the systematic violation of fundamental rights and freedoms in İmralı, was evaluated by politician Nursel Aydoğan, who was among the delegation that submitted the file on Öcalan to the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in recent months.

 

Reminding that lawyers prepare the report and present it to the public every year, Aydoğan said that the report announced this year is a summary of what has been going on in Imrali for 23 years. Mentioning the importance of the participation of the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) and the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD), and their signatures on the report, Aydoğan said: "We see that the lawyers have applied to more than 60 national and international institutions. The applications made by the lawyers in the international arena are generally to the institutions affiliated to the European Union.

 

EU DECISIONS

 

Emphasizing that one should not expect neutrality and independence in the European Union (EU) if any issue related to the Kurdish issue is on the agenda, Aydoğan noted that in such a case, the EU prioritizes the interests of states. Expressing that the EU has become a political institution with its decisions, Aydoğan said that for 23 years, Öcalan's family, lawyers and society's applications in various forms have not received a positive response.

 

HEALTH AND LIVING CONDITIONS

 

Stating that the EU makes decisions in line with its own angle of the Kurdish question, Aydoğan reminded the meeting they had with the CPT two months ago. Aydoğan said, “In our meeting, we stated that there has been no meeting with Mr. Öcalan for over a year. For a year, neither his family nor lawyers were able to visit the İmralı Island prison. No communication of any other kind was available as well. There is no news about the life and health situation of Mr. Öcalan and the other prisoners. The EU needs to be aware of this situation and take it seriously."

 

SYSTEM OF TORTURE

 

Stating that Asrın Law Office defines the Imrali Execution System as a "Torture System", Aydogan told that European institutions are also accomplices of this torture system. Stating that they emphasized this torture system at their meeting with the CPT, Aydoğan said, “The official we spoke to said that he would take this situation to the CPT meeting they will hold the next day. We do not know what happened after that. There is something wrong with the founding law of the CPT. Yes, it is auditing prisons, but it has no authority to share its audit with the public unless the state it's auditing allows the report to be shared.

 

EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND CPT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ISOLATION

 

Emphasizing that this situation needs to change, Aydoğan said, "The fact that the outcome of the meeting in İmralı can not be shared with the family, lawyers and the democratic mass organisations, that visits doesn't mean much. Only the state officials know what is happening in that prison. The first day two people visited Öcalan, told that they were members of the European Council and they are responsible of everything regarding the İmralı prison. Indeed this is true. Europe and CPT are responsible for everything that's happening inside that prison."

 

MASS STRUGGLE IS ESSENTIAL

 

Emphasizing the necessity of a mass social struggle to end the isolation against Öcalan, Aydoğan said, “We now need to talk about Mr. Öcalan's freedom. In fact, the slogan that stood out so far in 2022 was '2022 will be the year of freedom for Öcalan'. We have Newroz ahead of us. It will be a Newroz against the aggravated isolation conditions and for the freedom of Mr. Öcalan. I already believe that this year's Newroz celebrations will be massive, and Öcalan's freedom will be achieved through a mass social struggle."

 

'ÖCALAN MUST BE FREE'

 

Aydoğan continued as follows: "The removal of the isolation and the freedom of Mr. Öcalan is not possible in a country like Turkey unless we step up the struggle. We have only one agenda and it is the solution to the Kurdish question. And this is only possible with the freedom of Mr. Öcalan. We will not have democracy until Mr. Öcalan is free and the Kurdish question is resolved. In order to have a solution in the Kurdish question, freedom of Mr. Öcalan is essential."

 

 

MA / Ferhat Çelik