For 22 months there has been no news from Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is kept under total isolation on the prison island of Imrali.

MPs from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are holding a vigil to protest the isolation. HDP MP Kemal Peköz spoke to ANF about the importance of the protest and the isolation imposed on Öcalan.

 “There is unprecedented isolation. He [Öcalan] is not allowed to meet with his family, his lawyers or anyone else. He was granted the right [in March 2021] to make a 10-minute phone call, which should be every prisoner's right, but the call was cut off after less than five minutes. Nothing has been heard from him since then. The lack of information and communication with the outside world is causing a legitimate concern.”

"There must be no personalized laws, prohibitions and regulations"

It is also unclear whether the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) saw Öcalan at all, said Peköz adding that "the CPT can only publish its reports with the permission of the Turkish state. We say that this is not legal and that a prisoner must be able to exercise his rights under legal and constitutional guarantees. There must be no personalized laws, prohibitions and regulations. Disciplinary penalties are imposed again and again. Despite being held in a solitary cell with no opportunity to see anyone, disciplinary sanctions are imposed on him. Previously, various excuses were used to refuse applications to visit Imrali. They said that the ferry to the island was broken or the weather was too bad. Now those excuses have been abandoned and they say directly that he is not allowed to meet his lawyers because of a disciplinary sanction.”

Vigil in front of Parliament

Peköz said that hundreds of lawyers and dozens of organizations have applied to visit Imrali and have received no response. The HDP MPs have been holding a vigil in Ankara for 22 days. Peköz said: “Twenty-two days ago we wanted to make ourselves heard before the Ministry of Justice and held a rally there for five days in a row. Then the Ministry of Justice was surrounded by security and we were not allowed to go there from Parliament. That's why we protested in front of the entrance to Parliament. When problems arose here, we moved our protest to Parliament as of Thursday.”

Isolation affects all people

HDP MP Kemal Peköz underlined that the isolation affects everyone in Turkey: "The government is dragging the country deeper into darkness every day because it is only fighting to maintain its own power. With our protests we are trying to free not only Mr. Öcalan but also all other prisoners from this oppression. We are trying to end the violations of rights in the prisons and the wave of detentions and arrests. If this does not bring results, we must change our way of action. We insist that isolation must be lifted.”