The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today its 33rd General Report on its activities covering the year 2023 at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday.

During the press conference, CPT Executive Secretary Hugh Chetwynd refrained from giving a concrete answer to Stêrk TV's question about İmralı and placed the responsibility upon Turkish authorities.

"Every time we visit Turkey we have a dialogue with the Turkish authorities on these issues," Chetwynd said.

Chetwynd said, "This is a private (confidential) dialogue. It is an issue that the Committee is paying close attention to. We would have liked the report on our visit in 2022 to be published. It is the Turkish authorities who will decide when the report will be published. It is a subject we follow closely. Last week our committee met with Mr Öcalan's lawyers. It is an issue we are sensitive to. When we deem appropriate, we will pay a visit with regard to this issue."

While the CPT has not yet released its report on its visit to İmralı in 2022, it did not visit İmralı during another visit in February 2024. There has been no news from Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan for more than three years. Weekly appeals by lawyers and families are being left unanswered.

An uninterrupted struggle is being waged for the end of the isolation and the freedom of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan. The hunger strike actions of political prisoners in the prisons of the Turkish state, which started on 27 November 2023 to demand "the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan and the solution of the Kurdish question", have been continuing for five months. Relatives of the prisoners have also organised vigils for months.