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Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Executive Council Member Murat Karayılan called on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to ensure clear information about the situation of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned in the İmralı island prison since 1999.
The top commander spoke to Stêrk TV and answered questions about the isolation on Öcalan and international impact of Öcalan’s critical situation.
“Our people and movement cannot accept uncertainty about what is happening at İmralı,” said Karayılan, underlining Öcalan’s critical influence on Kurdish society.
The CPT visited İmralı Prison during its visit to Turkey’s migrant detention centres in September. However, information on whether the committee met with Öcalan has not been confirmed yet.
“This was understood as if they met Öcalan face-to-face. Afterwards, some allegations appeared that Öcalan had refused to meet with the CPT,” said Karayılan.
“If this is the case, why does the CPT not speak the truth and tell scandalous lies? For what reason is the CPT doing this scandal? In short, all of these increase doubts and scepticism. We have a lot of anxieties,” added Karayılan.
The commander stressed that the visits of medical teams to the island and isolative pressure against him are not the usual signs and points hard situations in the island adding that Öcalan is a sensitive point of the Kurdish society.
Reminding the international law, Karayılan asserted that the isolation on Öcalan is not in the law of any state, and asked Turkey to act based on the laws.
On 3 October, the CPT announced that it carried out an ad hoc visit to Turkey including visiting the prison island of Imrali between 20 and 29 September 2022, after Abdullah Öcalan’s legal representatives at the Asrın Law Office recently appealed to the Council of Europe’s anti-torture body.
However, Asrın Law Bureau, the lawyers of Öcalan, said they suspect that during the CPT visit to İmralı Island prison Öcalan did not participate in an interview with the delegation.
