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The isolation of Abdullah Öcalan is an issue for everyone in Turkey, said the co-chair of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on Sunday; calling on all political parties to file official applications to meet imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“One of the main pillars of war policies- the mentality of deadlock on the Kurdish issue- is the isolation applied to Abdullah Öcalan,” HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar stated during a rally in Batman (Ęlih). “Whenever the isolation deepens, war policies expand. Whenever war plans are extended, the isolation in İmralı gets heavier,” he said, referring to the prison on İmralı island where Öcalan has been kept since 1999.
Sancar reminded the crowd gathered for the rally that neither his family nor his lawyers have been allowed to meet Öcalan for 21 months. According to his legal representatives, the PKK leader did not reach a face-to-face meeting with a delegation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), during their inspection visit to İmralı in September.
Sancar also outlined that the isolation of Öcalan has been exacerbated, because he is a crucial figure for the solution of the Kurdish issue and bringing worldwide peace.
The co-chair called Öcalan’s isolation a grave unlawfulness, adding that as the HDP they had also filed an application to meet the PKK leader.
The government wants to use Öcalan’s situation to manipulate the political situation in Turkey in advance of the forthcoming 2023 elections, according to Sancar.
“Therefore the isolation cannot be considered as only our issue. This isolation is an issue for the whole country. Everybody in this country who supports democracy should oppose this isolation,” Sancar said.
