Residents of the Martyr Rüstem Cudi (Maxmur) Refugee Camp in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) are carrying out a vigil demanding an end to the isolation regime imposed on Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan by the Turkish state.

Speaking at the vigil which has left two days behind, Co-Mayor of Maxmur, Bederan Piran, said, “We are here for our leader and we condemn the aggravated isolation he has long been subject to.”

“The enemy is attacking to tear us and the leader apart,” said Piran, and underlined that millions of people consider Öcalan as their will.

BACKGROUND

Kurdish people are demanding clarity about the situation of Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK founder who has been imprisoned on the Turkish prison island of Imrali since 1999. The protests are prompted by the complete silence surrounding the 73-year-old and the demand that the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) ensure contact with him and his fellow prisoners.

Since the Asrin Law Office stated at the end of November that the CPT probably had no personal contact with Öcalan during its last visit to Turkey in September, concern for the life and safety of the Kurdish leader has increased. Kurdish society is demanding clarification about the CPT's visit to Imrali and information about the condition of the prisoners.