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Syrian Initiative for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan denounced Turkey on 22 January for the absolute isolation imposed on imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, in a letter sent to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) Marija Pejčinović Burić, and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).
The full content of the letter will soon be made public when a copy is posted to the Asrın Law Office in Turkey and other relevant parties, ANF reported.
The North and East Syrian People’s Initiative cooperated with the Syrian Initiative for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan to launch another petition campaign to collect signatures demanding an end to the isolation policy and freedom for the PKK leader, who has been imprisoned in Turkey’s high-security İmralı Island Prison since 1999.
In a public statement held in the Qamishli office of the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) in Syria on 23 January, the North and East Syrian People’s Initiative called on international bodies to take immediate measures in accordance with international law to address the concerns about Öcalan’s health and physical condition, who has not been contacted since 25 March 2021.
“All justifications used by Turkey for physical and psychological torture are invalid,” said the initiative members, adding that the Turkish government’s practices within this scope are systematic and contrary to the Convention on the Prevention of Torture, to which Turkey is also a signatory.
The petition will continue until 15 February, the anniversary of Öcalan’s detention in 1999, according to ANF.
