The İmralı Delegation issued a statement on the recent developments. Delegation member Sırrı Süreyya Önder called the meetings held with the state in the solution process “careless, scattered and unresponsive” and said: “Today the only thing to say is ‘Freedom for Öcalan, security for Öcalan, barricades against coups.’ At this point in time, the state facing a coup is in the same careless position. We can’t get any information on the health and safety of Öcalan.” Önder also said the delegation calls upon the CPT, UN and the international community to be conscious about the intensifying isolation conditions Öcalan is kept under.

The İmralı Delegation held a press conference in the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) building about the concerns raised as nobody can obtain any information on the situation of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

DTK Co-chair Hatip Dicle, HDP Ankara MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder, HDP Parliament Deputy Chair Pervin Buldan, HDP Group Deputy Chair İdris Baluken and KJA member Ceylan Bağrıyanık attended the press conference.

CARELESS, SCATTERED AND UNRESPONSIVE

The following points were made in the İmralı Delegation's statement:

“Two and a half years have passed since we as the İmralı Delegation started the negotiations phase until April 5. In this time, we have spent a great effort to inform the public. We as a delegation focused our efforts in exposing the isolation after April 5. These efforts focused on updating and relaying Mr. Öcalan’s warnings on the coup mechanism and its emergence. They didn’t understand our warnings, or Mr. Öcalan’s warnings of the ‘coup mechanism’, which stand to be the most important analysis of the 21st century. When we look at this country and the history of coups, it can be seen that the coup mechanism conceptualized by Öcalan has never gave way to democracy. The September 12 coup YÖK (Institution for Higher Education) and MGK (National Security Council) institutionalized themselves over the core of this state. They took their place in every institution of the state without the need to stage coups. This mechanism has tried ruling this state by inventing enemies, who were sometimes the leftists, sometimes the workers, but always the Kurds, and oftentimes the Alevis. The coup mechanism keeps itself alive by pointing at these conflicts and ‘threats’ and using them as an excuse to create a hegemonic space.

Mr. Öcalan is the first person to go beyond these warnings and point at a ‘parallel state structure’ and the Cemaat. Whenever any progress was made in the solution process, dynamics that developed provocations were set in motion. Öcalan had historic warnings. We as the delegation that held the meetings with the state define this process as careless, scattered and unresponsive. The result of the failed coup must not be one to absolve the state and the government. The discourse that Roboski massacre and all the massacres committed in the region are ‘the work of the Cemaat’ would maybe be legitimate if we hadn’t warned them in the necessary issues. But these warnings were made. That is why the government can’t run from responsibility. It is very clear that any political development can’t be handled separate from Öcalan. The government can’t avoid this.”

WE HAVE NO INFORMATION ON THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF ÖCALAN

“Our people had seen what the state and the scientists couldn’t. Our people had displayed resistance with the ‘end isolation’ campaign 3 years ago. The isolation was lifted and the negotiations phase began. But we’re back in the same path again due to the carelessness of the government.

The only thing to say today is ‘Freedom for Öcalan, security for Öcalan, barricades against coups.’ The reason for this is the relationship of this coup mechanism with the Kurdish reality and the current situation. Today, the state facing a coup is in the same carelessness as before. We have no information on the health and safety of Öcalan. This illegal isolation has doubled with the state of emergency. We as the İmralı Delegation exchanged information with state officials during the coup. And we shared this with the public. The conditions for family and lawyer visits and visits with the delegation must be created as soon as possible. The claims that ‘Öcalan’s safety is not under any threat’ are not valid when we look at the army’s, the President’s and the Prime Minister’s positions during the coup, when they couldn’t provide safety even for themselves.”

OUR PEOPLE DON’T HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WAIT

When we look at the conflict periods, the accounts can’t be settled unless you face the past. The primary planners of the coup are also the primary executors of the war. If you’re going to settle accounts with coups and their executors, you would be wrong if you don’t start with their role in the war. It will just be delayed until the next coup. And then the people pay the price for this. We see that every coup is more bloody than the last. We as the İmralı Delegation have issued warnings about this every day, and we will keep on doing so. But our people don’t have the patience to wait for this. Freedom for Öcalan watch demonstrations have started. We express our support for our people who have started these demonstrations. We agree that this is the most urgent democratic action. This issue needs to be handled in a real way and the war against Kurds needs to stop.

WE CALL ON THE CPT AND THE UN FOR CONSCIOUSNESS

After this point, we as the İmralı Delegation call on the CPT, the UN and international forces to create a consciousness for the increasingly severe conditions of isolation imposed upon Öcalan. When the dust settles after this coup, we see that a negative discourse on the Kurds will return. And we know this will not do anybody any good. We call for a stop to all attacks on administrators. We call for a stop to the arrests of DBP Co-chair Kamuran Yüksek, mayors and other elected officials. These politics of oppression lifted the immunities for the elected members of parliament. They offered unlimited immunity to the military. Then the coup came.

WE CALL FOR MOBILISATION FROM OUR PEOPLE

On July 15, jets flew over cities. These jets and tanks had been busy bombing residential areas and committing massacres in Kurdish cities for almost a year. We are making one last call: Let us increase the democratic areas to remove the coup conditions. We call for mobilisation from our people. We need barricades against the coup, we need to see Öcalan’s condition, and the war against Kurds needs to stop.”

HDP Group Deputy Chair İdris Baluken answered the journalists’ questions on their appeals to the UN as: “It is a process developed by our foreign relations commission. The İmralı Delegation will hold meetings with these committees next week. We will focus our efforts on informing these international institutions and getting them into action.”