Massive Attacks on Ocalan and his Lawyers
Massive Attacks on Ocalan and his Lawyers
While most of the lawyers arrested on Tuesday are being brought to court this morning, the International Initiative has released a statement condemning the repression.
"This wave of arrests - said the statement - is part of the unprecedented attack against political activists during the last two years".
Condemning the arrest of virtually the entire defence team of the most prominent prisoner of Turkey, Abdullah Öcalan, including the secretary and the driver of the law firm, the International Initiative underlined that "Öcalan himself has been cut off from his defence since 27 July – that is since 118 days. Any access to the prison island of Ýmralý has been denied to his lawyers. This arbitrary regime comes directly from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, who targeted the lawyers in a statement to the press. Today's arrests were made immediately after a meeting between Erdoðan and the head of the intelligence service MIT".
Underlining also that the Turkish army conducts massive cross-border air attacks on alleged guerrilla positions in Iraq, the International Initiative added in its statement that "the ongoing massive attacks against the civilian society is the largest mass arrest since the military coup in 1980. These attacks are fatal to all attempts to bring about a bloodless negotiated settlement of the conflict. The Erdoðan government proves that it has no interest whatsoever in such a solution. The attacks against the civil society are a direct attack on democracy".
The International Initiative calls for interventions "in every possible way against the war policy of Turkey, which is increasingly becoming a police state. Only dialogue and negotiations can bring a stable peace and lead to a strengthening of democracy".
First signatories of the International Initiative:
Máiréad Maguire (Nobel Prize Award, Northern Ireland), Dario Fo (Director, Writer, Actor, Nobel Literature Prize Award, Italy), Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Nobel Literature Prize Award, Argentine), Jose Ramos-Horta (Peace Nobel Prize Award, East-Timor), José Saramago (Nobel Literature Prize Award, Portugal), Danielle Mitterrand (President, Donation France Liberté, France), Ramsey Clark (Lawyer, former Attorney General, USA), Uri Avnery (Former Member of Knesset, Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc), Israel), Prof. Dr. Noam Chomsky (Linguist, Writer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA), Alain Lipietz (Member of the European Parliament, France), Pedro Marset Carpos (Member of the European Parliament, Spain), Mrs. Jean Lambert (Member of the European Parliament, GB), Lord Avebury (Chairman, Parliamentary Human Rights Group, House of Lords, GB).
"This wave of arrests - said the statement - is part of the unprecedented attack against political activists during the last two years".
Condemning the arrest of virtually the entire defence team of the most prominent prisoner of Turkey, Abdullah Öcalan, including the secretary and the driver of the law firm, the International Initiative underlined that "Öcalan himself has been cut off from his defence since 27 July – that is since 118 days. Any access to the prison island of Ýmralý has been denied to his lawyers. This arbitrary regime comes directly from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, who targeted the lawyers in a statement to the press. Today's arrests were made immediately after a meeting between Erdoðan and the head of the intelligence service MIT".
Underlining also that the Turkish army conducts massive cross-border air attacks on alleged guerrilla positions in Iraq, the International Initiative added in its statement that "the ongoing massive attacks against the civilian society is the largest mass arrest since the military coup in 1980. These attacks are fatal to all attempts to bring about a bloodless negotiated settlement of the conflict. The Erdoðan government proves that it has no interest whatsoever in such a solution. The attacks against the civil society are a direct attack on democracy".
The International Initiative calls for interventions "in every possible way against the war policy of Turkey, which is increasingly becoming a police state. Only dialogue and negotiations can bring a stable peace and lead to a strengthening of democracy".
First signatories of the International Initiative:
Máiréad Maguire (Nobel Prize Award, Northern Ireland), Dario Fo (Director, Writer, Actor, Nobel Literature Prize Award, Italy), Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Nobel Literature Prize Award, Argentine), Jose Ramos-Horta (Peace Nobel Prize Award, East-Timor), José Saramago (Nobel Literature Prize Award, Portugal), Danielle Mitterrand (President, Donation France Liberté, France), Ramsey Clark (Lawyer, former Attorney General, USA), Uri Avnery (Former Member of Knesset, Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc), Israel), Prof. Dr. Noam Chomsky (Linguist, Writer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA), Alain Lipietz (Member of the European Parliament, France), Pedro Marset Carpos (Member of the European Parliament, Spain), Mrs. Jean Lambert (Member of the European Parliament, GB), Lord Avebury (Chairman, Parliamentary Human Rights Group, House of Lords, GB).
