In an interview published on the KCK website, prominent Kurdish politician Besê Hozat speaks about the importance of intensifying the campaign for the freedom of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) co-founder Abdullah Öcalan.
New KCK Interview!
Besê Hozat about the struggle for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan & the situation after the local elections in Northern Kurdistan/Turkey. Also about the vital self defense of women & the escalations in the Middle East.
Full interview: https://t.co/9HHJsMglLc pic.twitter.com/aq9d16Ty97
— KCK – Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union (@KCK_Kurdistan_) April 24, 2024
Öcalan has now spent over 25 years in solitary confinement on the Turkish prison island of Imrali. Hozat highlights that nobody has heard from Öcalan in three years, and that this continued solitary confinement is “illegal, immoral, unethical, unpolitical, and inhumane.”
Hozat points out that the global ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign has “reached a very important level… But it is necessary to develop the campaign even further.”
In Hozat’s opinion the struggle needs to be intensified internationally. She points out that “Safeguarding [Öcalan’s] health, security, and freedom conditions requires a much more comprehensive and much greater struggle than that which is currently being conducted.”
According to Hozat, there have been many successes since the current Freedom for Öcalan campaign was launched in October 2023, but there is still much more work to do.
Hozat argues that pressure is required on all levels. She says “political, diplomatic, and legal struggle is important” because “no law is being applied in Imrali [prison], especially as national and international law is being violated in Turkey.” A social movement is also needed, she says, describing it as “a comprehensive struggle of the masses.”
In fact, Hozat maintains that Öcalan’s freedom will only be won “when pressure is exerted on the Turkish state through social struggle and resistance.”
In Hozat’s analysis, key points of leverage should be focused on “the Council of Europe (CoE), the ‘European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’ (CPT), the European states as a whole, as well as the forces implementing the international conspiracy [against Öcalan]” to pressure them to make “political, diplomatic, and legal improvements, take steps, and change their policies.”
Hozat blames the European states, the CPT and the CoE for Öcalan’s continued imprisonment. She says that their inaction makes them complicit in the Turkish state’s confinement of Öcalan. She points out that “Turkey finds courage in their silence.”
Hozat puts the blame squarely at the feet of the European institutions, for not pressing enough for an improvement in Öcalan’s conditions. She argues, “Europe has become Turkey’s hostage. Turkey does what it wants and violates international law as it pleases. By turning a blind eye, both the CoE and the CPT have violated international law. In other words, they have violated the law they themselves have created. They are complicit in Turkey’s crimes of genocide and inhumanity. This is not a situation that should be taken lightly or accepted.”
Hozat gives some ideas for how the campaign can be strengthened, she says that pressure in Europe is key to the campaign’s success: “Imagine tens of thousands of people organising prolonged sit-ins in front of the CPT and the CoE. Because societal pressure is effective in Europe, these institutions would be pushed to review and possibly alter their dubious relationships of interest and policies with Turkey.”
Hozat calls for mass action from within Turkey too. She calls people to rise up and march “to Imrali, the Ministry of Justice, and to Ankara. If tens or even hundreds of thousands of people rise up, like in the case of Newroz and the Wan resistance, the isolation will be broken.”
She concludes by reminding us that Öcalan’s release is an essential step toward the democratisation of Turkey. She says “for the democratisation of Turkey as a whole, for justice, law, democratic politics, and a democratic system to develop, these policies of genocide must come to an end. The focus point of the system of torture and isolation is Imrali, so these policies must be abolished in Imrali first. Rêber Apo’s* freedom, security, and health must be safeguarded. If this happens, democracy, freedom, and justice will prevail in Turkey.”
*Rêber Apo refers to Öcalan. ‘Rêber’ is a respectful term for ‘guide’ in Kurmanji. Apo is a shortened affectionate nickname for Öcalan.
