In what has become a constant refrain, lawyers for PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan have been refused visit to their client once more. Again the "excuse" by the authorities was the weather condition. Öcalan has not been able to meet his lawyers since July 27 last year.

Kurds are stepping up protests to highlight the conditions in which the Kurdish leader is held.

A few days ago it has been disclosed that a letter to Öcalan from his uncle Süleyman Aslan (80) has been returned to him without explanation. Aslan said he would carry out legal proceedings about the post office officials and added that he thought the police were involved in the incident.

Condemning the isolation of Öcalan who has not been able to meet his lawyers since six months and 16 days, Aslan commented, "No matter what they do, Serok [leader Öcalan] is the representative of the Kurdish people and the solution [of the Kurdish issue]."

Officials from Adana and Yüreðir Yakapýnar post offices denied they received the letter.

In Ankara, Human Rights Association (ÝHD) has sent a letter to the Ministry of Justice regarding the non-delivery of some prisoners' letters. Prisoners in the Sincan F Type Prison stated to the ÝHD that their letters to writers, columnists and friends were not delivered as they were deemed 'not appropriate' in their content.