Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Green Left Party MP Ömer Öcalan is facing terrorism charges over his remarks in a recent Istanbul meeting focusing on the isolation behind bars of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founding leader Abdullah Öcalan.
In an official statement on Friday, the Ankara Prosecutor’s Office announced that it has launched an investigation of its own accord against the MP, who is also the nephew of Abdullah Öcalan, over his statement, “Our struggle will continue until Mr Öcalan and Kurdistan are both free”.
The Prosecutor’s Office indicated that Öcalan’s statements during the event, which were published on various news websites, may constitute a violation of Turkey’s counter-terrorism laws.
The Green Left MP’s remarks were in relation to the ongoing efforts to end the absolute incommunicado detention of the PKK leader. “Our people have been fighting these policies of isolation in four parts of Kurdistan,” Ömer Öcalan said during the event.
Abdullah Öcalan has not been allowed to communicate with the outside world for 31 months, as he serves a life sentence in the specially built İmralı Island Prison in northwestern Turkey.
