The ongoing isolation of Kurdish people's Leader Abdullah Öcalan is mobilizing international organizations. The International Delegation Against Isolation was in Ankara, Istanbul and Diyarbakir to hold a series of meetings with various people in the past days. The delegation examined both the isolation issue and the conditions of fascism created by the AKP-MHP government.

Lawyer Caroline Isabella Aubry spoke to ANF about the content of their meeting and what they will do back in Europe.

Lawyer Aubry came from Geneva. She said that it was important for them to listen to institutions and people who were exposed to oppression in Turkey. She added that all the institutions they interviewed conveyed that everything the oppressive regime in the country does is against the law. The Swiss lawyer noted that they saw that those who were subjected to oppression had no means of reaching justice.

We need to report what we saw and heard

Lawyer Aubry continued: “In the interviews we held in Amed, we saw very clearly from the narratives what kind of character the regime in Turkey has. The people we interviewed underlined the need to organize and fight against the ongoing oppression. This needs to be defended by both international institutions and foreign lawyers. I think that everything that is going on here should be exposed in Europe. I must also say that we were very impressed by the courage of those we interviewed.”

No justice mechanism

Lawyer Aubry said that they saw a generalized repression and added: “We have seen that lawyers, journalists and women are the targets of this repression. We also observed that there is not such an environment where one can go to the police to expose this repression. People do not even have a justice mechanism to detect the pressures they are subjected to. What justice in Turkey does not do, should be done by independent organizations from Europe that need to come here. We need to do something. The fact that people are detained and arrested without any trial is truly insane."

Isolation on the Kurdish agenda

Referring to the isolation imposed upon Kurdish people's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, lawyer Aubry said: “Neither the media nor the political arena speak about isolation in Imrali. There is only a segment that supports the Kurds in Europe and we get information from them. We will prepare a report on what we have seen and experienced here and will publish it. In this way, we will draw the attention of international institutions to what is happening here. In this report, we will also include the situation of Abdullah Öcalan being held in isolation after he was captured and handed over to Turkey. We will also emphasize the sensitivities of the institutions we interviewed about Öcalan and we will stress that he is on the Kurds' agenda.”