It has been 26 years since the international conspiracy against PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan was launched on October 9, 1998. Since February 15, 1999, when he was brought to Turkey, Abdullah Öcalan has been held in İmralı Type F High Security Prison under absolute isolation conditions. While Abdullah Öcalan's lawyer and family visits are prevented, not a single news has been received from him for 43 months. Nurettin Kuzu, one of the central executives of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), evaluated the international conspiracy and the absolute isolation in İmralı. 

 

'SPECIAL' LAWLESSNESS AGAINST ÖCALAN 

 

Touching on the October 9th unlawfulness, Lawyer Kuzu said that Abdullah Öcalan had visited many countries during that period and that none of these countries recognized Öcalan's rights. Kuzu said: “We can talk about a moral and political society when the laws, which are created by people in order to maintain order and then written down, are applied equally to everyone. However, when it comes to Mr. Öcalan, we see that even in European states, which are said to have the most advanced legal systems, the law is not applied. It turns out that the law created by Capitalist Modernity is shaped according to individuals. For this reason, no legal action has been taken in all these processes and we cannot speak of a legal situation. This is an unlawfulness applied specifically to Mr. Öcalan.” 

 

'ÖCALAN IS VIOLATED EVERY SECOND'

 

 

Kuzu said the following: “When it comes to Mr. Öcalan, lawlessness becomes flesh and blood. This situation has no equivalent in international law. But there is obviously a state of lawlessness that they have agreed upon. Within the framework of the law created by Capitalist Modernity, there is a law that they themselves have agreed on. There is a legislation that is not fully operationalized. That is why it is not correct to use the word law here. Because not taking any action is completely unlawful.”

 

Kuzu said that the legislation regarding other prisons in Turkey is not applied in İmralı and added: “Isolation in its simplest definition is a state of isolation and separation. However, when it comes to İmralı Island Prison, we encounter a completely different form of isolation. For this reason, calling the system implemented in İmralı isolation is an understatement. A completely special regime has been implemented in İmralı. First of all, it is necessary to draw attention to this. If we look at the last 25 years in İmralı like a film strip, we cannot see a single second in which Mr. Öcalan has not been subjected to a violation of his rights or a single frame in which a lawful procedure has been carried out. We really have difficulty in defining this.” 

 

UNLAWFUL ACTS IN IMRALI

 

Pointing to the absolute isolation, “Although we define it as incommunication, the regime in İmralı is not defined in either national or international legislation. Therefore, we can give examples of numerous violations of Mr. Öcalan's rights since he was brought to Turkey. Restriction of lawyer meetings, limited meetings until 2010, meeting with his lawyers only 5 times in the last 14 years, exchanging letters, meeting with his guardian, the right of his lawyers to receive information... None of these are provided to him” he said. 

 

'THE CONSPIRACY CONTINUES WITH ISOLATION'

 

Stating that the international conspiracy continues today with isolation, “International lawlessness continues with national lawlessness.” Kuzu said and pointed out that international law is not being implemented in İmralı and that the ECHR's 2014 “violation” verdict on Abdullah Öcalan has not been implemented. Stating that a similar file has been pending before the ECHR for 10 years, Kuzu said: “For 10 years, the ECHR has been dragging this out in violation of its own criteria. It does not decide on the application. We are not discussing what the decision should be. We are waiting for a positive or negative decision. Again, there are pending applications before the Constitutional Court (AYM) since the opening of the individual application in Turkey and none of them have been decided. All of them have been left in limbo.” 

  

ABDULLAH ÖCALAN'S 'RIGHT TO HOPE'

 

Kuzu also commented on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which took the ECtHR's “violation” verdict on Abdullah Öcalan on its agenda on September 17-19 and asked Turkey to take the necessary measures without delay. Kuzu reminded that the committee asked Turkey for an action plan in 2021 and said: “However, no action plan was submitted. Conditions in İmralı have worsened. While there was a partial state of communication before, today that has also disappeared. The Committee requested a legal amendment to the domestic legislation within the framework of the right to hope without delay. A decision was taken that an interim decision would be issued if no changes were made. Why is this important? The importance of the right to hope is that a person has hope that they will not be imprisoned for the rest of their lives, that they will not remain in prison. In countries subject to the ECHR, aggravated life imprisonment is no longer imposed.”

 

Kuzu continued as follows: “I make these evaluations as a lawyer, but all these processes have a reality beyond being legal. Therefore, it would not be very healthy to evaluate Mr. Öcalan as an ordinary individual and make a legal interpretation in this way. His standing in the public is important. Today, if this isolation has developed in a negative sense in the last 25 years, it is a state of not wanting the problem to be solved.”

 

MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu