Turkey’s proposal to negotiate over the lifting of the isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has been met with fierce opposition from Kurdish leaders. Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council co-chair Besê Hozat denounced the move in an interview on Medya Haber TV, calling it “ugly and dirty”.
“We find such approaches, such policies very ugly and dirty and we strongly reject and condemn them,” Hozat said. She added that the measure of democracy is to oppose the isolation practices of İmralı, the prison where Öcalan has been held for nearly 26 years.
Öcalan, a central figure in the Kurdish struggle, has shown resilience despite his long captivity. Hozat highlighted the widespread resistance around Öcalan, stating, “There is very great resistance from the people, the guerrillas and prisoners around this.”
She revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s associates have proposed a meeting with Öcalan and his lawyers in exchange for concessions from the Kurdish movement. “If they [the Kurdish movement] do this and that for us, we can have a meeting with Öcalan and his brother and then with the lawyers,” she quoted.
Condemning these tactics, Hozat stated, “This is an extremely ugly policy that knows no moral or legal limits. Of course, we find such approaches, such policies very dirty and disgusting and we strongly reject them.”
Hozat asserted that Öcalan’s right to meet with his lawyers and family is already established under legal norms. His isolation has drawn international scrutiny, being a subject of concern for the United Nations and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. “Years ago, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) said that what happened in İmralı was torture and a violation of rights. Despite knowing this, these institutions and the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has only stood by and watched”, she said.
Hozat criticised the Iraqi government for negotiating with Turkey, claiming that this lent legitimacy to the collaboration of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) with Turkey in Iraqi Kurdistan. “The Iraqi government has also approved Turkey’s occupation policy for various political and economic interests, for its own dirty reasons, its own calculations,” she added.
Hozat called for a response to Turkey’s policies of occupation and collaboration. “Our people should take a very strong stance against this,” she said. There need to be be very strong protests against the occupation everywhere.”
