Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İmralı Delegation members Sırrı Süreyya Önder, İdris Baluken and Pervin Buldan held a press conference at HDP Parliamentary Group's office highlighting concerns over the situation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan in the wake of 15 July's coup attempt in Turkey.

The press release was read by HDP Ankara MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder who underlined that; “It has been Kurds, workers, left-wing, socialist circles and intellectuals that experience troubles most during the coups staged in Turkey so far. The constituents of the HDP are made up by those whose entire lives have been politically and physically destroyed by coups.”

Önder pointed out that Öcalan was the first person to mention the name of the structure that has staged this most recent coup, recalling the Kurdish leader's assessments that there has existed a parallel structure since the Oslo process which has infiltrated into all the state institutions, and that a radical democratization initiative would be the realest way to eliminate this structure.

Önder continued, saying; "When you look at the first 15 minutes of every meeting in İmralı, you will see evaluations that indicate this danger and criticise the silence of the government and all state institutions in this regard. Today we have seen that our already weak democracy wouldn't suffer such an injury if Öcalan's warnings had been taken seriously on time. This structure did indeed want to sabotage the previous peace attempts. KCK operations constitute an example in this regard."

Önder reminded that the HDP party and delegation had told the relevant authorities since the very first day that they shouldn't remain indifferent to a person that exposed the coup plotters this much, that they should treat the security conditions urgently, and that a probable attack would drag Turkey into an irreversible civil war.

"As the İmralı delegation, we rapidly shared the information we received from the state. Is this enough? Not. The state should urgently enable a meeting between Öcalan and his lawyers and family that is indeed a legal right, and with an independent delegation in addition. The public opinion should be satisfied regarding Öcalan's condition."

Önder remarked that a meeting with Öcalan would be a major step to disrupt the ground that coup plotters want to establish for the coup they have long planned. He said their concerns shouldn't be treated as provocative and should instead be turned into a significant opportunity. "To do this requires to claim the universal law principles that the coup aims to destroy."

Answering reporters' questions afterwards, Önder stressed that Öcalan's security condition is an issue that cannot go ignored or neglected as it is as important as the savagery of the coup itself and a must for the democratization initiative to be developed. He called upon the government to fulfill its duty to enable meetings with the Kurdish leader, adding; "It is an already known fact that Öcalan was subject to physical violence, and this requires to treat the İmralı system with suspicion. The aggravated isolation ongoing for nearly one and a half year must be ended and conditions must be made available for meetings in İmralı."