The Asrin Law Office has had no contact with its client Abdullah Öcalan for four years. The last visit of two of its lawyers to the Turkish island prison Imrali, where the PKK founder and Kurdish leader has been isolated since 1999, was enforced by a mass hunger strike. The Istanbul-based law office is calling for the contact ban to be lifted and repeats Öcalan's remarks in this latest interview. In a statement released on Monday, the Asrin Law Office representing Abdullah Öcalan stated the following:

No sign of life from Imrali for over two years

In the last twelve years, only five lawyer meetings have taken place with Mr Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali prison. Four years have passed since the last of these meetings on 7 August 2019. Since 25 March 2021, when a phone call with his brother was suddenly cut off for unknown reasons, we have received no news from him. All judicial, official and other attempts we have made since that day have been blocked by the state and have been unsuccessful.

Unprecedented system of torture

The state and its relevant institutions have also failed to comply with the measures adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Committee at our request. On 6 September 2022 and 19 January 2023, the government was requested to allow lawyer visits without delay and without restrictions. This demand has also been the content of countless requests we have made. Mr. Öcalan is being held in a torture system that has never existed in the history of "law" in Europe and Turkey.

We have also received no news from our clients Veysi Aktaş, Hamili Yıldırım and Ömer Hayri Konar, who are imprisoned with Mr. Öcalan on Imrali. Mr Öcalan and our other clients are being held in absolute isolation. The system of absolute isolation in which Mr Öcalan and our other clients are being held has no legitimate legal or social basis. It is clear that the current approach stems from the state's understanding of the denial of the Kurdish question. While the state has been calling for a permanent ceasefire and peace through dialogue and reconciliation in tensions, conflicts and wars all over the world, from Kosovo to Ukraine, from Armenia-Azerbaijan to Sudan, since the elections, the opposite policy is being followed on the Kurdish question. This open discrimination and contradiction of the state is the main reason for the lack of a solution and all the crises taking place.

The attentive public should be aware that this stark reality of the state cannot be changed without seeing and hearing it and speaking out against it.

Methods of solution proposed by Öcalan

Exactly four years ago today, the last meeting with Mr. Öcalan took place. In this last conversation, he said that he had resisted on the line of peace against the understanding that had repeatedly thwarted his efforts for a democratic solution since 1993. He said that he would not engage in a politics of non-solution and that Özal's observation that war is not a solution is still valid. He further stated that a democratic solution to the Kurdish question was possible, that he could eliminate the conflict in a week and that he was confident of doing so, but that the state must also act accordingly. If Mr. Öcalan's outstretched hand for a democratic solution had not remained in the air that day, the political tensions, the social rifts and the economic crisis that we are still experiencing today would not have existed. The methods of solution suggested by Mr. Öcalan, which the state proposes abroad but does not apply at home, must be put into practice before the current policy causes further irreparable wounds.

Our top priority and expectation is to receive trustworthy messages directly from Mr. Öcalan and our other clients. Given that denial of contact carries all kinds of risks, we call on the authorities to put an end to the absolute communication blackout and this crime of torture. We call on the democratic public to pay attention.”