The Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), a body of the Council of Europe published its report last August, relating to the visit one of its delegation made in 2019 to Imrali island prison where Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned in 1999.

Upon the failure of the European Council and western countries to act, following the publication of the CPT report, which underlined the ongoing isolation in Imrali, German opposition party Die Linke, brought the issue to the agenda of the German Federal Assembly.

In a question prepared by Die Linke deputy Gökay Akbulut, the federal government under Angela Merkel's prime ministry was asked what it thinks of the CPT assessment by which "isolation has become permanent in Imrali and despite our warning in 2016, there has been no change".

The question proposal, which pointed out that lawyers and family visits have been prevented, asked to the Merkel government: "Have conditions in Imrali prison come to the agenda in your meetings with Turkish government representatives?"

The Merkel government officials will give a written or verbal response to Die Linke through the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The CPT had said in its report that "A balance must be struck between such security considerations and the basic human rights of the prisoners concerned," it said, calling for a "sustainable system" of regular visits by family members and lawyers at Imrali.

The CPT also said that "the underlying concept of the detention regime of persons sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment is fundamentally flawed", urging a "complete overhaul" of the detention regime for such prisoners.