Abdullah Öcalan’s detention is a model for broader repressive practices within the Turkish detention system as a whole, speakers at a European Parliament conference have said. Scores of lawyers gathered in Brussels for the ‘Political Prisoners: Isolation, ill-treatment and torture’ conference, which addressed the detention conditions of political prisoners in Turkey and Europe, in particular the isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Öcalan.
“This isolation method started with Mr. Öcalan when he was arrested and taken to Imrali; it’s now in all of Turkish society, and other countries in Europe. This is why it’s so important to talk about what’s going on in Turkey, but it’s not only a Turkish issue,” said advocate Lena Lagnander, who joined an international delegation of lawyers in opposition to the Kurdish leader’s isolation.
The panel also heard from Mazlum Dinç from Asrın Law Office, the firm which represents Öcalan in Turkey. They have been obstructed from visiting or contacting their client, who has been imprisoned since 1999, for 36 months.
“The isolation method is used in different ways,” added Lagnander. “In prison, you are not allowed to talk in Kurdish, or to your fellow prisoners. The treatment of prisoners is very bad. When you are released, you get a bill for the food you’re eating! If you can’t pay, you have to stay in prison.”
Dr. Gülşah Kurt, a keynote speaker, addressed the broader suspension of the rule of law amid a ‘state of exception’ in Turkey, saying: “The Mandela rules, which specifically govern prison conditions are internationally accepted as the minimum standard. They indicate that under no circumstances may detention conditions amount to… cruel or degrading punishment.”
But as in Öcalan’s case, these rules are not applied in Turkey, including the suspension of the so-called ‘right to hope’ and possibility of future release. Kurt added: “Regarding the condition of prisoners, human dignity is a fundamental principle. This is where the exception to the rule comes in… One has to ask if international safeguards for prisoners aren’t respected, is there any point in implementing these standards?”
Other speakers addressed the detention of political prisoners in the Phillipines, elsewhere in Turkey, targeting Basque and Catalan political prisoners, and the particular case of Italian anti-fascist prisoners being held in Hungary.
“”We are a facing a major crisis in human rights in Europe,” said Louis Lemkow, speaking with reference to the situation in Catalonia. “It’s reflected in the erosion of civil liberties and rights in many countries. I need only refer to Gaza and Ukraine, but there are other conflicts in the world where there grave erosions of human rights. And the situation in Catalonia and Spain is firmly set in that process of erosion.”
The panel also heard opening video messages and speeches, including from Mauro Palma Former Chair of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), and Urko Aiartza Azurtza, Co-president of European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights.
