More than 1,500 lawyers from 35 countries have called on the Turkish Ministry of Justice to end the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan and his three fellow prisoners in Imrali and to comply with international legal standards. The initiative presented in Brussels on Monday is supported by the DEM party.

The DEM Party Group Deputy Chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit addressed the Erdogan government on Tuesday at a press conference in parliament in Ankara and said: "No matter how much you bury your head in the sand, the whole world is talking about the isolation on Imrali."

Turkey does not implement ECHR ruling

Koçyiğit pointed out that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will address the implementation of rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in a session this week. The Court had already found in 2014 that Turkey had violated the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment and thus Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights by imposing an irreducible life sentence on Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners.

Öcalan, who founded the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 1978, was sentenced to death for "high treason" in June 1999, just four months after he was abducted from Kenya to Turkey in violation of international law. Since Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002, Öcalan must now serve an aggravated life sentence with no prospect of early release. According to the ECHR, however, those sentenced to life imprisonment must at least have the prospect of early release, the so-called "right to hope".

1,500 lawyers want to visit Öcalan

DEM deputy parliamentary group leader Koçyiğit said that Turkey is systematically ignoring the verdict and has not taken a single step to implement the mandatory jurisprudence in ten years. "Over 1,500 lawyers have now again demanded that Öcalan's right to visit be guaranteed. They have informed the Ministry of Justice that they want to visit Imrali. No matter how much you bury your head in the sand, no matter how much you violently suppress public opinion in Turkey, the isolation in Imrali is a reality and the whole world is talking about it," said the politician.

Solution instead of isolation

Lifting Abdullah's isolation is crucial for a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, stressed Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit: "Isolation eliminates the possibilities and conditions for a solution. And it is in the common interest of the peoples of this country to promote the idea of ​​a solution instead of isolation. We ask the government: What do you want to achieve by insisting on Imrali isolation? What have you solved with isolation since 2015 and what do you want to solve from now on? Turn away from this mistake as soon as possible, lift the isolation and open the doors to dialogue. Let us work together with the peoples of Turkey on a solution. As the DEM party, we are in favor of this. If this country is to experience normalization in all areas and there is to be a way out of the crisis, then the isolation on Imrali must be broken and lifted."

Europe must act

Koçyiğit appealed to the Council of Europe: "Is it not time to take general measures against the Turkish government, which has failed to change the legislation on severe life sentences? The ECHR has been suspended for decades. Don’t you have to take concrete steps in this regard? How long will you ignore the situation, how long will Europe remain silent, how long will it continue the plot? That is what we are asking Europe. We call on Europe to abide by the rules you have set for the world in accordance with universal law and your own law. Do not allow the political interests of states to stand in the way of the common struggle of the Kurdish people and the peoples of Turkey, who have suffered and resisted persecution and assimilation for decades, and the expectations of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question."