MRAP Representative Gianfranco Fattorini, who spoke at the 56th UN Human Rights Sessions, drew attention to the Imrali isolation and the trustee practices of the Turkish state and demanded that the UN send a delegation to Imrali.
The 56th Human Rights Sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which started on 18 June and will continue until 12 July, continue at the UN Geneva Office. UN Representative of the Movement for Friendship Against Racism (MRAP), Gianfranco Fattorini, who spoke on the day when general human rights violations in the countries were discussed, criticized the isolation conditions of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and the trustee practices that the Turkish state wants to implement in the cities of North Kurdistan.
'Right violations are experienced systematically'
Fattorini drew attention to the ongoing state oppression against the Kurdish people in the cities of Turkey and North Kurdistan. He said: "We are deeply concerned about the ongoing repression and systematic violation of fundamental rights and freedoms in the cities of Turkey and Kurdistan."
'Mayors are arbitrarily dismissed from office'
Fattorini continued: "The UN Human Rights Council, in a report published in 2017, expressed its deep concern about the significant deterioration of rights experienced in the cities of North Kurdistan. The report noted that anti-terrorism legislation was used to dismiss democratically elected officials of Kurdish origin and that independent and Kurdish media and citizen associations were closed.
There have been waves of arrests before and after the parliamentary elections to be held in May 2023 and the municipal elections to be held in March 2024, and democratically elected mayors continue to be arbitrarily removed from their office."
'Send a delegation to Imrali'
Drawing attention to the isolation conditions of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, Gianfranco Fattorini said: "There has been no news from Mr. Abdullah Öcalan for three years. He has been imprisoned in Imrali Prison Island for 25 years. He has not been able to meet with his family and lawyers for the last 3 years. We call on the UN Human Rights Council to send a delegation to Imrali to independently examine the events in the Southeast of Turkey and the conditions of Abdullah Öcalan."
