İZMİR - Rights and legal organizations in Izmir drew attention to the hunger strike actions initiated by the prisoners to ensure the freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and said that İmralı Prison should be closed for peace.

 

Political prisoners in Kurdistan and Turkey prisons continue the rotating hunger strike that they started on November 27 to end the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and ensure his physical freedom. Representatives of rights and legal organizations in Izmir stated that the demands of the prisoners should be met immediately.

 

İHD: İMRALI SHOULD BE CLOSED

 

Lawyer Nehir Bilece, a member of the Prisons Commission of the Human Rights Association (IHD) Izmir Branch, stated that isolation has become a policy of the political power and that the law is used as a tool of oppression. Bilece said: "The isolation on the prisoners has become even more intense with the launch of the hunger strike against the isolation. Arbitrary practices are currently being carried out in prisons. Not allowing Abdullah Öcalan and the prisoners with him to meet with their families for 34 months is isolating the society and families. In order to ensure an honorable peace, Imralı Prison is in the first place. type F prisons such as these need to be closed because isolation manifests itself not only in prisons, but in all areas of life."

 

THİV: TÜRKEY MUST COMPLY WITH COMMITMENTS

 

The isolation and solitary practices that cause physical and psychological harm to prisoners continue to exist as an unresolved chronic problem, Coşkun Üsterci, Secretary General of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) said: "A special form of isolation practice was experienced in İmralı Prison. This was also included in the reports of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). The recommendations included in the reports announced by the CPT after its visits to İmralı Prison in 2017-2019 were not followed. The CPT made another Ad-Hoc visit to İmralı in September 2022; however, the report prepared after the visit was not made public. As a result, Turkey should abide by the international commitments it has signed, and urgently fulfill the requirements of the CPT recommendations, and the problem of isolation in all prisons should be solved with a human-centered approach." 

 

ÖHD: WE MUST BE THE VOICE OF THE PRISONERS

 

Stating that the prisoners started a hunger strike due to the continuous lack of communication and isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan, Şükran Öztürk, Co-chair of the Lawyers Association for Freedom (ÖHD) Izmir Branch said: "What is happening in prisons is an isolation system that does not comply with the law, human rights and international norms. Isolation is not only an issue of the Kurdish people or their friends. This issue is the issue of all Turkish people. As ÖHD, we continue our work to end these unlawful practices. We will continue to work on diversity in the coming period. We will have actions and events. In this sense, we call on the society, rather than the official authorities, to be the voice of the prisoners because all institutions of political power, including the judiciary, use these practices in line with their own political understanding."

 

'THE STATE SHOULD COMPLY WITH THE LAW'

 

Stating that there are many rights violations in prisons, especially the lack of treatment of ill prisoners and drawing attention to the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan, the Rights Initiative MP Chairperson Arif Koçer said: "The isolation is seen as 'degrading treatment' in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. If you restrict the freedom of a person. You have to keep him in a social area in a state of restriction. Keeping him in a cell alone and not allowing him to meet anyone is degrading torture. Turkey has a new law. It needs to return to its state. Arbitraries are at their peak right now. If the state does not comply with its own law, it cannot expect the same from the society. It cannot be expected to provide an environment of happiness, happiness and trust in the society. We hope to become a society where the law is applied in accordance with universal law as soon as possible." 

 

MA / Delal Akyüz