Abdullah Öcalan's nephew Ömer Öcalan and HDP spokeswoman Ebru Günay were part of the delegation that submitted the request to be allowed access to Imrali Island Prison where the Kurdish leader has been held in incommunicado detention since 1999.
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar applied to the Ministry of Justice to visit Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali prison.
The application made by the HDP was announced by the party’s spokeswoman Ebru Günay at a press conference at the party's headquarters in Ankara on Thursday.
HDP Central Executive Board (MYK) member and Abdullah Öcalan's nephew, Ömer Öcalan, and Günay herself were part of the delegation that submitted the request to be allowed access to Imrali Island Prison, where the Kurdish leader has been held in incommunicado detention since his capture as result of an international conspiracy in 1999.
Remarking that the policy of denial that keeps the Kurdish question in deadlock caused a war both inside and outside of the country, Günay said: “This hostile policy was essentially introduced with the Imrali isolation system. Mr. Öcalan has developed solution proposals to the Kurdish question for years, and presented his opinions both to public opinion and concerned interlocutors during the process of Imrali talks.
His proposals which could contribute to the achievement of peace, democratization of Turkey and a solution to the Kurdish question, are now placed under aggravated isolation by the government. The first thing the AKP-MHP government did to preserve hawkish policies and the policy of denial and to institutionalize the government fascism was to isolate Mr. Öcalan.”
The HDP Spokeswoman continued: “The march to Gemlik took place fundamentally to show the way to the solution. We protested the October 9 conspiracy against Öcalan together with our people. In this scope, a delegation consisting of our co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, Central Executive Board (MYK) Member Ömer Öcalan and my person have today applied to the Ministry of Justice to visit the Imrali prison to be able to discuss over a solution against the conflict policy and to bring up a democratic resolution to the Kurdish question.”
Günay added, “We renew our call to the Ministry of Justice to provide a positive response to our request. Because, as everyone knows, a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question can be discussed, and a culture of democracy can be promoted when meeting and dialogue with Mr. Öcalan is allowed.”
