ISTANBUL – HDP European Council Representative Faik Yağızay said that CPT officials, who did not disclose their report on İmralı during their meeting, said, “The conditions in which Öcalan stayed are against international law.” Önder APO, who has been in aggravated isolation in İmralı F Type High Security Prison for 24 years, has not been heard from for 29 months. The ban on visiting family and lawyers has turned the Imrali isolation system into “absolute miscommunication”. All applications made by the families of Önder APO and the other detainees Veysi Aktaş, Hamili Yıldırım and Ömer Hayri Konar in İmralı are rejected with punishments given under the name of “discipline”, which are systematized.
Asrın Law Office applied to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) dozens of times in a 24-year period against the isolation in Imrali. Leader APO’s lawyers have made at least 49 applications to the CPT in the 12 years that have passed, especially since 27 July 2011, when the ban was imposed on lawyers. Against all these applications, the CPT did not fulfill its responsibility. 2 million 646 thousand 211 signatures gathered in Northern and Eastern Syria, demanding that the absolute isolation against Leader APO be broken and his physical freedom ensured, were delivered to the CPT and the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). But CPT and OHCPR have not acted so far.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) European Council Representative Faik Yağızay, who has frequent meetings with the CPT, evaluated the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and the CPT’s stance. Yağızay stated that Önder APO is a very important person among the peoples of the world, as well as all the peoples of the Middle East, especially the Kurdish people, and underlined that Önder APO is both a political leader and a wise and thinker. Yağızay said that the fact that no news has been received from Önder APO in İmralı for 29 months has caused public concern.
CPT’S RELATIONS WITH TURKEY
Emphasizing that the absolute isolation system that Turkey has deepened is against the law, Yağızay stated that the state is violating its own laws with the isolation, which he considers political. Stating that the international forces approved the isolation, Yağızay said the following regarding the stance of the international institution, the CPT, on the isolation: “The CPT can announce the report on the country in question with the approval of that country. Of course, if the country on which the report is prepared takes the attitude of not disclosing those reports for a long time, the CPT can of course announce that report. We definitely meet with CPT officials in Europe every 3-4 months. We have conveyed this situation to them, but the CPT has to take the risk of disrupting its relations and dialogue with that country. For example, the last time he said to us, ‘We cannot take the risk of interrupting the dialogue with Turkey. That’s why we can’t release the report without their approval.” Of course, as I said, if Türkiye nullifies the activities of the CPT, it can announce the report. Because they have the report.”
THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL FORCES
Reminding that Abdullah Öcalan was brought to Turkey with an international conspiracy, Yağızay noted that the İmralı system is the system of international forces. Yağızay said, “If you remember, when Öcalan was captured, then Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit said, ‘We couldn’t understand why they handed Öcalan over to us.’ International powers have a decisive role in what is going on in Imrali today. There were some decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and those decisions are under the influence of political forces. For example, the task of implementing and following a decision given by the ECtHR is the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The Committee of Ministers is also a political institution. This institution consists of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the member countries, who are in charge of implementing the decisions made by the court. We have also seen that the court has not implemented many of the decisions it has made for Öcalan.”
CPT: IMRALI CONDITIONS UNLAWFUL
Reiterating that they have met with CPT officials many times, Yağızay said, “What they said is very close to what we said. In fact, it is similar and often falls into repetition. They usually say, ‘We are focusing on the issue, we are in dialogue with Turkey’. They reiterate their findings regarding the isolation and conditions in Imrali in the report they announced on Imrali in 2019, and they say, ‘The conditions in which Öcalan stayed are against international law. They say, ‘We need to have a dialogue to overcome this,'” he said.
Stating that Turkey can democratize the country once the isolation is overcome, Yağızay stated that the Kurdish people and their friends should put pressure on all institutions of the European Union and continue to develop actions and activities.
