Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan has been held in isolation in İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison for more than 25 years. The lawyers of Öcalan have made a new application to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and İmralı Penal Execution Institution Directorate requesting a meeting with their client. 

 

The applications were made by Asrın Law Office lawyers İbrahim Bilmez, Cengiz Yürekli, Emran Emekçi ve Suzan Akipa. The lawyers also applied for meetings for their other clients in İmralı, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş.

 

OBSTACLE TO MEETINGS 

 

While most of the applications made by the lawyers for Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş are not responded to, the meetings are prevented by the Bursa Execution Judgeship with “ban on lawyer visits” orders in 6-month periods on the grounds of “disciplinary penalties”. 

 

UNINTERRUPTED VISIT BAN DECISION

 

In July 2016, during the State of Emergency (SoE), the ban on lawyer visits continued until February 2018. After this date, lawyer visit requests started to be banned for 6-month periods. The last 6-month ban on lawyer visits to Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners in İmralı was issued by Bursa Execution Judgeship on 8 November 2024. Lawyers were not informed about the reason for the ban.

 

With the latest ban, Abdullah Öcalan has been banned from seeing his lawyer at least 15 times in the last 8 years.