A delegation from the HDP met the Secretary General and the person responsible for Turkey of the Committee against Torture (CPT) in Strasbourg. The CPT spoke to Abdullah Öcalan and the other Imrali prisoners at the end of September.
A delegation from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) met in Strasbourg with representatives of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The HDP delegation included the foreign policy spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy, the Council of Europe representative Faik Yağızay and the former mayor of Van, Bedia Özgökçe Ertan. The CPT was represented by Secretary General Régis Brillat and Elvin Aliyev from the Committee's Turkey Department.
"CPT spoke to all Imrali prisoners individually"
Faik Yağızay told ANF that the conversation was about the violations of rights in Turkish prisons and in particular about the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan: "We talked about the situation of political prisoners and ill prisoners and the increasingly worse prison conditions. Of course, we also addressed Mr Öcalan's isolation and the CPT's last visit to Imrali. We reported on the conditions in the prisons and the CPT said they are in contact with the authorities in Turkey. With regard to the ill prisoners, we have called on the CPT to take immediate action. Furthermore, we shared that the Kurdish people, both in the diaspora and in the country itself, are very concerned about Mr. Öcalan's isolation. The CPT's failure to provide a statement on what happened in Imrali adds to this concern. They told us that they cannot comment beyond the statement they have already made, but that they have spoken to all four prisoners on Imrali individually.”
Only the 2019 CPT report has been published
Faik Yağızay is the representative of the HDP in the Council of Europe and called for the publication of the CPT reports on the prison island of Imrali. So far, only the report on a visit made in 2019 has been published, while those from 2016, 2018, 2021 and the last one from September 2022 have not been made available. Yağızay said: "Unfortunately, the CPT does not have the power to put pressure on Turkey for the reports to be made public. We have been told that our efforts to get political institutions to endorse the reports are important and should continue. Supporting the CPT reports and pressuring Turkey to act is the job of political institutions. We will continue our efforts at this level.”
