In Geneva, Switzerland, the role of the international forces in the isolation system of Turkey’s İmralı Prison was emphasised at a conference entitled “Political Prisoners in the World and Turkey”, which ended with the demand for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.
The conference, which took place at the Uni Mail campus of the University of Geneva, underlined the need for a united resistance and struggle to open the doors of İmralı Prison, where the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Öcalan has been held in solitary confinement for 25 years and incommunicado for almost three years.
The conference, part of the global campaign “Freedom for Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question”, featured presentations by Mahmut Şakar, a former lawyer of Öcalan, and Raziye Öztürk of the Asrın Law Office.
Şakar’s presentation focused on the construction of İmralı Prison, Öcalan’s imprisonment and the role of international powers. He specifically mentioned the involvement of the European Union and the Council of Europe in the construction of the İmralı system, noting that European officials had visited İmralı before Öcalan’s lawyers were able to see their client after his arrest in 1999.
Öztürk spoke about what she described as illegal practices in İmralı Prison, stressing that the illegality experienced there is now imposed on the whole of society. She called for an escalation of the struggle for Öcalan’s freedom and stressed the importance of international reactions to the isolation conditions and demands for his release.
Olivier Peter, a lawyer from the Geneva Bar Association, suggested that international collective action could motivate authoritative bodies to act and break the silence surrounding Öcalan’s imprisonment.
Swedish politician Jessica Carlqvist, who participated online as part of the International Delegation Against Isolation, underlined the need to understand the importance of Öcalan’s freedom and pledged to continue the struggle for the realisation of his paradigms and freedom.
The conference concluded with calls for Öcalan’s release and raised the wider issue of political prisoners in Turkey and around the world.
