The Turkish state has kept Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in total isolation at Imralı prison for 41 months on a pretext of disciplinary punishments. There have been numerous international protests, but the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has yet to publish its report on its last meeting with him in 2022.
In an interview with Channel 8 TV based in Silêmanî (Suleymaniyah) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Newroz Uysal, DEM Party MP and a lawyer for Abdullah Öcalan, spoke about her last meeting with Öcalan in 2019.
Uysal noted that Öcalan always shared a letter or short message for the general public with his lawyers during their meetings between May and August 2019. The main points of these messages were that all problems of society can be solved by the establishment of democratic laws and that the Turkish state should not see the existence of Kurdish people as a threat.
Öcalan also emphasised that the Kurdish people must unite in order to become a force that can facilitate dialogue with the Turkish state, Newroz Uysal added. She recalls that Öcalan drew attention to the need for a “strong Kurdish leader, not necessarily himself, that can represent the Kurdish people in diplomatic negotiations with the Turkish state and also on an international level”.
Explaining the political circumstances of her last meeting with Öcalan, Uysal stated that at that time the Turkish state was preparing to expand its military attacks on North and East Syria and that an American delegation had come to Turkey for diplomatic talks.
Uysal said that Öcalan had predicted an escalation of the Turkish military attacks and questioned why other Kurdish political actors were unable to see that Turkey was preparing for a large-scale war at that time.
During the time of the 2019 meetings, the Turkish state was preparing an attack on Ras al-Ayn (Serê Kaniyê), said Uysal. She added that the Turkish military presence in Iraqi Kurdistan (Bashur) today “was part of Öcalan’s predictions”.
The MP also noted that Öcalan has repeated his concerns about Turkey escalating its military attacks during the peace negotiations between the PKK and the Turkish state between 2013 and 2015.
In response to Channel 8’s question about the possibility of a meeting with Öcalan, Uysal replied that Öcalan has had no contact with any family member or lawyers for 41 months, leaving his current condition unknown. She also emphasised that this incommunicado detention means a “violation of international and human rights”.
Uysal noted that the isolation of Öcalan, a leader of Kurds, highlights a perceived weakness in Kurdish national unity, as his situation should be considered a national issue for all Kurdish people. Criticising the conditions imposed on Öcalan, Uysal argued that “establishing Kurdish national unity could prevent the repetition of a historical pattern of Kurdish leaders facing execution, murder or exile.”
She emphasised that this issue should be considered a national priority, reminding political figures and parties that Öcalan’s condition is “not just an issue of the PKK but of the Kurdish people as a whole”, and that “lots of people all over the world see him as a political vanguard.”
