An open letter has been written by 56 Italian personalities and 26 organisations, calling on Xavier Bettel to act on behalf of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. The letter emphasised that: “Only a free man can negotiate.”
Bettel is a Luxembourgian politician and the new president of the Council of Europe’s (COE) Committee of Ministers. Luxembourg recently took over the presidency of the committee.
The open letter is an initiative of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan: A political solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign which started on October 2023 as a decentralised and grassroots global movement for raising awareness of Öcalan’s incarceration on the world stage. The letter’s signatories include politicians, parliamentarians, artists, writers, lawyers and human rights activists.
‘Only a free man can negotiate’
The letter draws attention to the severe isolation conditions on Turkey’s İmralı prison island:
“Mr Öcalan's most basic rights have been violated. Visits by his family and lawyers have taken place due to the arbitrary policies of the Turkish governments.”
The letter’s signatories pointed out that the European Court of Human Rights (EctHR) ruled in 2014 that Öcalan, like all prisoners, has the ‘Right to Hope’ for parole:
“In 2014, the ECtHR ruled that Mr. Öcalan's aggravated life sentence violated the European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR] by completely eliminating the possibility of parole. The Court said Turkey must change its laws to ensure that prisoners are aware of the potential for eventual release, known as the 'Right to Hope'."
At its meeting on 17-19 September 2024, the Committee of Ministers pressed Turkey to take urgent steps to comply with the ECtHR’s 2014 judgment. It also announced that it would draft an interim decision if no progress was made by 20 September 2025.
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Öcalan’s political importance ‘cannot be ignored’
The letter pointed out the importance of Öcalan in achieving a political solution to the conflicts in Turkey and Syria. The signatories consider Öcalan’s freedom as key to this. They wrote:
“The political importance of Mr Abdullah Öcalan for the Turkish-Kurdish conflict cannot be ignored. With Turkey’s occupation of areas in Syria and northern Iraq and the continuation of its military operations, the Turkish-Kurdish conflict has gone beyond Turkey’s borders and turned into a regional problem. Resolving this conflict could bring peace to the entire Middle East.”
“Given recent developments, it is time for the European Committee of Ministers to take concrete steps towards a final solution to the problem. Mr Öcalan has repeatedly expressed his willingness to find a peaceful solution despite the unequal conditions. Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan should be allowed to meet with his lawyers and family and should be released under conditions that will ultimately allow him to play his part in finding a just and democratic solution to the decades-long Kurdish problem in Turkey. It is now imperative that the European Committee of Ministers takes legal, diplomatic and political steps to ensure Mr Öcalan’s freedom and a political solution to the Kurdish question,” they continued.
Signs of hope
The letter thanked the COE for its recent efforts which, it pointed out, may have helped to secure the Turkish state’s approval of family and legal visits to Öcalan, as well as the recent delegations by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party to visit him in prison:
“Thanks to pressure from the Council of Europe and political and civil society organisations around the world, it may be a positive development that DEM Party delegations have visited Öcalan in prison. However, Mr Öcalan is still a political prisoner held in violation of international human rights laws and conventions. The current situation shows how true Nelson Mandela’s quote is: Only a free man can negotiate.”
Finally, the letter drew attention to the growing campaign in support of Öcalan, which has been gathering momentum worldwide:
“Alongside 69 Nobel laureates, 1,500 lawyers from different professional groups, trade unions, social movements, political parties, elected officials, artists, intellectuals, activists and millions of Kurds and their friends called on the Council of Europe and the President of Turkey. This call was for an end to the İmralı isolation and the release of Mr Öcalan. Many international networks have also been established to work for Öcalan’s freedom and these efforts continue with determination today.”
