Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) took the isolation imposed upon Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan to the Parliament’s agenda.

The inquiry submitted to the parliament for the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım to answer said: “The isolation imposed upon Mr. Abdullah Öcalan in the İmralı Island Prison is carried out in parallel with the political calendar, like the parliamentary elections, local elections and presidential elections and the conditions of absolute isolation worsen in accordance, or independently.

The HDP inquiry lists important dates regarding the isolation imposed upon Abdullah Öcalan and includes the following: “Mr. Öcalan’s intellectual and practical efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue in Turkey via peaceful means have resonated in the international arena, while he hasn’t been allowed to meet with his lawyers since July 27, 2011 and with his family since September 11, 2016 in any way.

The following questions were included in the inquiry: 

- Your government frequently states that the Republic of Turkey is a state of law in the national and international arena. If that is the case, why isn’t Mr. Abdullah Öcalan entitled to the same rights openly stated in the law that every arrestee and convict has?

- Does your government have any ongoing efforts to remove the special status of the Imrali Prison currently housing Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, whose mission in Kurdish politics is accepted by all and whose transformation into a social identity is also recognized in the international arena, be revoked and the prison be rearranged in line with universal legal norms? Does your government have any such plans?

- What are the true reasons behind him not being allowed to meet with his lawyers since July 27, 2011 and his family since September 11, 2016 in any way or form, besides excuses pushing the boundaries of reason such as “bad weather” and “boat failure”?

- Why is Mr. Öcalan being prevented from meeting with his family, his trustees or his lawyers, despite countless appeals?

- Isn’t Mr. Abdullah Öcalan being deprived of rights given by the law to every arrestee and convict a political and punitive attitude?

- What is the legal reasoning behind the aggravated isolation and increasing pressure imposed against the norms of national and universal law? Where does the aggravated isolation in question tie in with the law according to your government, which claims to be under the “rule of law”?

- Who is running the İmralı Island, and based on what legal status?