KONGRA-GEL Co-Presidency Council released a statement about the isolation regime imposed on Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held in incommunicado detention for over two years.

Concerns over the conditions of Abdullah Öcalan increased after reports that Öcalan received threatening letters from the Turkish state and administration of the Imrali Island Prison where he has been held since his handover to Turkey as a result of an international conspiracy in 1999.

Defining the silence on the unlawfulness implemented against Abdullah Öcalan as “unacceptable”, KONGRA-GEL stated the following:

“The unlawfulness directed against Mr. Öcalan, who is held in solitary confinement, is unprecedented. Mr. Öcalan has spent 24 years in solitary confinement and he has not been heard from for 28 months. He is not allowed to meet with his family members and lawyers and he is subjected to disciplinary penalties and denial of visitations for six months on the grounds of pacing up and down and reading books.

The arbitrary and intentional disciplinary penalties, denial of visitations, exclusion of Imrali Island from all international laws, the silence of international institutions in the face of unlawful practices constitute an unprecedented situation, the only reason for which is the hostility towards Öcalan’s ideas and the hostility towards the Kurdish people over his person.

The Turkish state’s practices against Öcalan are a part of its policies of denial and annihilation against the Kurdish people. The US, the EU and the international institutions under their control are directly responsible for the fact that the practices against Öcalan are ignored and the Imrali Island are excluded from international laws.

The reports of threats against Leader Öcalan’s life have caused indignation among our people. The existence of Leader Öcalan is raison dĕtre for our people and the international silence on this matter is on no account acceptable.

We appeal to the United Nations, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers (to which the CPT and ECtHR are affiliated), the European Union and the European Parliament. Your silence on this unlawfulness is unacceptable. You should take action to clarify the conditions of Leader Öcalan’s life and health and end the unlawfulness in Imrali Prison. You should provide our people and the public with clear information about his condition.

We also appeal to our people and friends:

The health and physical freedom of Leader Öcalan is completely dependent on our struggle. We can only break the international silence on this matter through struggle. We have the power to do so. Standing up for Leader Öcalan is standing up for our existence and our free future.

On this basis, we call on all our people and friends to unite around Leader Öcalan through a variety of actions and activities wherever they are.”