ISTANBUL - Stating that the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan is a "crime against humanity", Women's co-spokesmen of political parties said: "The isolation can be broken through resistance."

 

PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held under heavy isolation conditions for 24 years in İmralı Type F High Security Prison, has not been heard from for 22 months since his last intermittent phone call with his brother Mehmet Öcalan on March 25, 2021. While there was no positive or negative response to the application made by Asrın Law Office's lawyers to meet twice a week, "disciplinary punishments" are cited as the reason for the family visit ban that is systematically given to Abdullah Öcalan every 3 months.

 

While protests continue in Turkey, especially in the Middle East and Europe against Abdullah Öcalan's physical freedom and heavy isolation policies, female co-spokespersons of the political parties participating in the People's Democratic Congress (HDK) 12th Women's Conference condemned the heavy isolation imposed on Öcalan and called for struggle.

 

ISOLATION AND ASSIMILATION

 

Stating that the isolation on Öcalan should be seen as a part of the assimilation and annihilation policy, Socialist Women's Assemblies (SKM) General Spokesperson Çiçek Otlu pointed out that the isolation situation is also related to the war developed against the Kurdish people. Otlu continued: "In the 2015 election, the isolation of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, who is the most valuable asset for the Kurdish people and is seen as the symbol of freedom, has been lifted with the political victory of the HDP on June 7. The isolation is also an indication of Turkey's military defeats.”

 

IF IMRALI GATES ARE OPENED...

 

Noting that opening the Imrali gate would mean the solution of the century-old Kurdish problem, the disruption of the collapse plan, the attainment of rights by the Kurds on the basis of equality and the establishment of an honorable peace, Otlu stated that these are the reasons why the Imrali gates could not be opened. Otlu said: “Opening the gate means the disappearance of the denial policy, the genocidal, colonialist and war policy, and the formation of the Kurdish nation's own demands for freedom. And it also means accepting the demands of the Kurdish national movement on a legitimate basis, in line with its own line.”

 

'ISOLATION CAN BE ENDED WITH RESISTANCE'

 

Stating that they have been struggling against the isolation that has been going on for years, Socialist Re-Liberation Party (SYKP) Co-Chair Canan Yüce said: "The isolation imposed on Öcalan should be fought in every field. This isolation is not independent of the AKP's policies. The AKP is currently imposing deadlock, war and oppression in every field. We see this in preventing the Kurdish Question from being resolved through democratic means, increasing war policies, increasing denial, annihilation and oppression. In fact, another visible aspect of the oppression here is the isolation in Imrali. The isolation of Mr. Öcalan has also existed for a long time. But for the last 2 years, a higher level of isolation has been implemented. This is a way of general policies implemented by the AKP government to keep itself in power. This isolation is not only carried out here. We are facing a mass attack. Today, the government is attacking us from everywhere. It is necessary to see the isolation as a result of the war, and the isolation can be ended through resistance."