Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy group chair Pervin Buldan spoke to DIHA (Dicle News Agency) about the recent visit she and two BDP deputies Altan Tan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder paid to Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan on Imralı island on 23 February.

Buldan said the Imralı visit was the most significant meeting she ever had in her life and told the followings; "It was around 11 a.m. when the boat arrived at the island where a military official, who said he was a commander, welcomed and accompanied us to the guest room. We waited there for some time for the MIT (National Intelligence Organization) official who was also going to attend the meeting together with our delegation. At 2 p.m. the prison administrator told us that the MIT official had arrived and the meeting with the Kurdish leader could begin. Then we went to another room where Mr. Öcalan and a MIT official were already speaking. He welcomed us and asked why we were late. After we told him that the lateness was not because of us, we, the three BDP officials and he, sat around a round table and started to talk. The MIT official sat at another table standing behind us".

Buldan said that during the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, the Kurdish leader was quite excited and hopeful about the issues he discussed. "It was the first time I saw him up close. He was closing his eyes while speaking, as I had often seen him in the press earlier. He said he didn't have any health problem apart from the problem in his left eye which was continuously flowing down. He said doctors couldn't find a solution to the problem in his eye. He was both humoristic and serious at times, while he got angry as he put emphasis on some points during the two-hours meeting".

Buldan added the followings concerning the situation and attitude of the Kurdish leader; "Despite being subjected to isolation for the last 14 years, he has a command of all issues which he analyzed very well while evaluating both the past and the future in Turkey and the Middle East. As far as I saw from his hopeful statements and his self-confidence, the solitary confinement hasn't exercised any effect on Mr. Öcalan".