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.

The Democratic Society Congress (DTK), Free Women's Movement (TJA), Democratic Regions Party (DBP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), MED Legal and Solidarity Associations with Families of Prisoners and Convicts (MED TUHAD-FED), Lawyers' Association for Freedom (ÖHD) and the Peace Mothers Council took to the streets in Van province on Monday for a mass demonstration against the isolation regime imposed on Öcalan.

The police tightened security measures outside the HDP, DBP and all other institutions and closed the entrances and exits of all streets in the city center to prevent gathering. The crowd reacted to the heavy blockade by chanting the slogan "Bijî berxwedana zindanan" [Long Live the Prison Resistance].

The police crackdown with tear gas and rubber bullets resulted in the detention of several demonstrators.