ANKARA - Emphasizing that the Kurdish question cannot be solved unless the Imrali isolation is broken, Green Left Party Deputy Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki underlined that the isolation is the problem of 85 million citizens.

 

There has been no news from PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is held in absolute isolation in İmralı Type F High Security Prison, for 30 months. Applications for meetings made by the family and their lawyers are blocked by penalties imposed under the name of 'discipline'. Lawyers of Asrın Law Firm made a new application to Bursa Execution Judgeship on July 10, 2023, requesting the views of the family of their client Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners held in İmralı. The judges rejected the application on July 18, citing a new 'disciplinary' penalty given against Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners, who have not been allowed to see their lawyers and families for 30 months. The judgeship, which notified the lawyers of the decision on July 19, did not share information about the date and for what reason the 'disciplinary' penalty was given.

 

Greens and Left Future Party (Green Left Party) Batman MP Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki underlined that many problems, especially the Kurdish problem, cannot be solved unless the systematic isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan is broken.

 

'ISOLATION IS SPREADING IN TURKİYE'

 

Pointing out that the most concrete example of the lack of democracy in Turkey is the isolation policy implemented in İmralı, Tiryaki said: “If we are talking about lawlessness, non-democracy and chronic problems in prisons in Turkey, the place where this started is the isolation developed in İmralı. The isolation imposed in İmralı spreads wave after wave to the prisons and then to the whole country. As long as the permanent isolation in Imrali continues, the problems in Turkey's prisons will neither end nor will Turkey become a democratic country. First the isolation problem needs to be solved. We believe that if the isolation problem is solved, these can be solved gradually. Unless the isolation ends, Turkey will not be able to take steps towards becoming a democratic country, the country will be governed by a permanent state of emergency, politics of violence and illegality."

 

'ISOLATION IS THE PROBLEM OF 85 MILLION'

 

Stating that everyone looked to the future with hope during the process carried out under the name of "solution" between the state and PKK Leader Öcalan between 2013 and 2015, Tiryaki said: "During the period when Mr. Öcalan met with his family and lawyers, Turkey's rights took a breath. During the solution process, our rights were not hopeful that only the Kurdish question would be solved, and that was the period when the country's economy was at its best. It was a period when Turkey's foreign policy was perhaps at its best, diplomatic negotiations were held at the highest level, direct diplomatic relations existed in the world, and friendship, not hostility, dominated. Breaking the isolation will also mean that our people will look to the future with hope. But the AKP government will expand the scope of the war in the near future. It carries out policies to cause conflicts by deepening the disagreements between Kurds and other peoples in the Kurdish geography. Everything we have said is carried out in an intricate manner with isolation. Isolation is a problem for the 85 million people living in the country. If the isolation is broken, many problems, especially the country's economic problem, will be solved directly and we will walk to the future with more hope."

 

MA / Hakan Yalçın