Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP Musa Piroğlu shared his evaluations on the the isolation on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan to the Mesopotamia Agency.
PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has been kept under heavy isolation for 22 years in the Imralı High Security Type-F Closed Prison in Turkey.
He has not been allowed to use his basic rights to meet with his family and his lawyers. Upon the rumours recently circulating on Twitter in relation to claims about Abdullah Öcalan’s health condition and/or even if he was still alive, applications by Öcalan’s lawyers to relevant judicial authorities to have an “urgent meeting” with their client still remain unanswered.
Most recently, Öcalan’s brother Mehmet Öcalan had a curious phone call with the Kurdish leader that lasted for about all of five minutes on 25 March.
After that very short call that was ‘cut off’, the debates on Öcalan’s isolation have been heated in Turkey.
Sharing his views on the issue, HDP ‘s MP for Istanbul Piroğlu stated that “Abdullah Öcalan is not any ordinary prisoner and the special law policy that is applied in İmralı Island is also not normal.”
“It is the state’s policy of war against the Kurdish people,” Piroğlu defined the isolation imposed upon the PKK leader.
‘The Kurdish question and democratisation is linked to the issue of isolation’
Stating that the deadlock in the Kurdish question and the insistence on the policies of war have become the unifying factor of the ruling block in Turkey Piroğlu said,: “This ruling block deepens the politics of war. Meeting with Abdullah Öcalan means Öcalan’s presence into the political scene. The state is aware of the vital role of Abdullah Öcalan for the Kurdish people.”
Every single word of Öcalan that reaches out the walls of Imralı have a direct “impact” on the Kurdish people as well as on the politics in Turkey and in the Middle East, according to Piroğlu.
“The state is aware of the vital role and character of Abdullah Öcalan in the solution process. Isolation is a product of this awareness. The Kurdish question is directly linked to the democratisation of Turkey and democratisation is directly linked to the isolation in Imralı. We cannot achieve democracy as long as the isolation continues,” Piroğlu said.
Referring to the recent phone call, which was protested against by Öcalan himself, Piroğlu emphasised that “The Turkish state is trying to normalise such isolation practices on Imralı.”
“The main purpose is to underestimate Öcalan’s impact on the solution, the HDP MP said, “The normalisation of his isolation means the normalisation of this extraordinary law enforcement, which means: It also means for the state destroying the only access for the solution. This creates a deadlock. Continuing the isolation policy means giving up on finding a solution.”
‘We should demand freedom for Öcalan’
”We should not expect from the government to soften the isolation policy and to resolve the Kurdish issue. This is against the nature of power. But we have to force it to do so. For this reason, we have to raise the struggle for democracy. Democracy is not possible as long as the isolation continues. And there is no chance for the isolation policy to end before this government falls,” Piroğlu further added.
The HDP MP suggested that the main demand regarding the isolation in Imralı island should be the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.
“Mr. Öcalan’s freedom is vital not only for the Kurdish people but for all the peoples of the region. Unless we can achieve this, we will not have the chance to move forward to democracy, equality and justice.” Piroğlu said.
”As long as the state continues to aggravate the isolation policy and continues these policies of war,” he noted, “the cost will not only be economic, but come in the form of restriction of all political rights,. Historically, our experience shows that there is a strong link between the state’s punishment and street politics. Imralı is ruled by a special law. As long as this special law continues, the state terror and prison policies will continue.”
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