The Internationalist Solidarity Network have made an urgent appeal to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to demand immediate action on the case of Abdullah Öcalan, who has been detained incommunicado for three of a total 25-year imprisonment on the Turkish prison island of İmralı. The network acts on behalf of the global campaign, ‘Freedom for Ocalan: A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question.’
In a letter addressed to CPT President Alan Mitchell, the network described Öcalan’s absolute isolated detention as “illegal and inhumane”, echoing lawyers worldwide who condemn Turkey’s treatment of Öcalan as a form of torture and a violation of international human rights conventions.
Furthermore, the CPT has a responsibility to monitor, report and act on human rights violations, the campaigners emphasised. CPT has been repeatedly criticised for failing on its mandate, remaining silent on Öcalan’s treatment under diplomatic pressure from Turkish authorities.
“As CPT, you are entitled to visit all places of detention of states which are party to the Convention, including Turkey. This affords you the ability to send your team of experts to İmralı, where the Turkish government must grant you unrestricted access to visit where Mr. Öcalan is being held captive and allow you to interview him in private, so he can communicate with you freely,” the network said.
Turkey, as a signatory member state to the Council of Europe (CoE), must act in accordance with ‘the principles of the rule of law and the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms.’
The campaigners made an urgent request to the CPT to send a delegation to İmralı to meet in person with Öcalan, assess his well-being and secure a private conversation with him to “talk freely.” The network also asked the CPT “to compel Turkey to permit a prison visit to Öcalan’s lawyers and family in accordance with CoE obligations.”
Such progress would pave the way for a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey and meet the lawful and democratic demands of the Kurdish community worldwide, the network said.
The network asserted that Abdullah Öcalan is “seen by millions of Kurds as their rightful political representative. Öcalan is the pioneer of the modern-day Kurdish movement, and leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed political organisation working towards a democratic and peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue.
The leader was captured, in what is described by supporters as an ‘international conspiracy’, in 1999 and detained in an F-Type high-security prison on Turkey’s İmralı island, where he has remained ever since on an extended life sentence. For the past three years, he has been held there under conditions of total isolation.
Read the letter in full:
To: Dr. Alan Mitchell, President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
Dear Dr. Mitchell,
We, the concerned members of an international network comprised from various NGOs, trade unions, political parties, and European Parliament members, are writing to you following our EP conference with an urgent appeal that requires your immediate consideration. We are joined by thousands of supporters who will peacefully gather around the headquarters of the CPT and CoE for five days of protest in the hope of gaining your attention.
For the past 36 months, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is seen by millions of Kurds as their rightful 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 been “disappeared” and dropped into a void of “non-existence,” while being denied all contact with the outside world, including his lawyers and family. Throughout this period, Turkey has attempted to transform Imrali Island into a “floating coffin”. Mr. Öcalan, who is now 75 years old, has been subjected to cruel torture through isolation for 25 years and over the last three years, no information has been provided concerning his health. 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.
This is why we are kindly asking you, the CPT, to act. As the CPT, you are entitled to visit all places of detention of states which are party to the Convention, including Turkey. This affords you the ability to send your team of experts to Imrali, where the Turkish government must grant you unrestricted access to visit where Mr. Öcalan is being held captive and allow you to interview him in private so he can communicate with you freely.
We would like the CPT to act in accordance with Article 3 of the CoE Statute, which states that: “Every member of the Council of Europe must accept the principles of the rule of law and the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Mr. Öcalan is a citizen of a CoE member state that has been denying him his human rights for two and half decades, and for the last three years, has been depriving him of his legal rights to meet with his lawyers and speak with his family.
All we ask, with complete sincerity, is that you please immediately send a delegation to visit Imrali Island to speak with Mr. Öcalan and check on his well-being. Following that, we would greatly appreciate if you could encourage Turkey to allow him to receive a visit from his family and lawyers, so that they are in compliance with CoE and CPT obligations. This would help address an urgent human rights issue and concern for millions of Kurds and could also renew the spirit of reconciliation, which is needed to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
With gratitude for your time and hope that you receive this as a heartfelt plea.
