Over 60 prominent thinkers, campaigners, legal professionals, politicians and trade unionists have signed an open letter calling on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to visit Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) co-founder Abdullah Öcalan on the Turkish prison island of İmralı.
“For the past 36 months, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is seen by millions of Kurds as their legitimate political representative, has been held in an extreme form of incommunicado detention by the Turkish state on the prison island of Imrali. During this illegal and inhumane isolation, Mr. Öcalan has effectively been “disappeared” and dropped into a void of “non-existence,” as he is being denied all contact with the outside world, including his lawyers and close family members,” the letter’s signatories wrote.
The campaigners argued that Turkey is trying to transform İmralı prison into a “floating prison”. The letter continued: “Öcalan, who is now 75 years old, has been subjected to cruel torture through isolation for 25 years but over the last three years, no information at all has been provided concerning his health, giving cause for serious disquiet. At this point, even his whereabouts cannot be confirmed, and his physical condition is a highly sensitive issue for many Kurds who see him as embodying their national voice.”
The letter’s authors urge the CPT to exercise its right to visit Öcalan immediately, using its powers under Article 3 of the Council of Europe (CoE) Statute. They argued: “As the CPT, you are legally entitled to visit all places of detention of states which are party to the Convention, and this includes Turkey. This invests you with the powers and ability to send your team of experts to Imrali, where the Turkish government are obliged to grant you unrestricted access to visit where Mr. Öcalan is being held captive and to allow you to interview him in private so he can communicate with you in confidence free from any duress.”
Furthermore, they implored the CPT to push “Turkey to allow him to receive a visit from his family and lawyers, to bring them in full compliance with CoE and CPT obligations.” This would, they said, “help address an urgent human rights issue and concern for millions of Kurds and could also renew the spirit of reconciliation, which is urgently needed to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey.”
The letter was signed by world renowned anarchist scholar and linguist Noam Chomsky and former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Other signatories included Simon Dubbins of Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union. Renowned lawyer Gareth Peirce signed too, as well as journalist Jonathan Steele and barrister Frances Webber, who is the former vice-chair of the Institute of Race Relations. Several Sinn Féin, Plaid Cymru, Scottish National Party and Labour party members and MPs were also among the signatories, as well as prominent lawyers Baroness Helena Kennedy KC and Michael Mansfield KC.
