The 550,000-member Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), to which 40 trade unions and 20 trade union councils in Scotland are affiliated, sent a letter to the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on the occasion of the second anniversary of the international campaign ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’.

STUC Deputy Secretary General Dave Moxham made a statement in front of the STUC Centre on the occasion of the letter they sent to David Lammy and the anniversary of the campaign.

Dave Moxham said: “Abdullah Öcalan has been in jail for 25 years. Like many political prisoners branded as ‘terrorists’, in reality, they are freedom fighters. They are the hopes and representatives of their peoples. The cause of the Kurdish people in Turkey is absolutely vital for trade unionists and the rest of society to support. So, we are calling on the UK government to do the right thing, to put pressure on Turkey, to demand freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and real progress in delivering democracy and autonomy to the people of Kurdistan.”

The STUC letter signed by Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, and addressed to David Lammy MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, House of Commons, includes the following:

“We are writing to you to ask you to take up the issue of the continued isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in the Turkish island prison of Imrali.

The STUC has established a policy, agreed at our annual Congress, calling for the restoration of Turkish Government negotiations with Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK for a peaceful settlement for the “Kurdish Question” in Turkey. We have for many years expressed concerns over the repression of the Kurdish people within Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria and have raised these with previous Foreign Secretaries.

We believe that the Kurdish Question is a critical issue in Turkey and the wider region for achieving peace, democracy and respect for human rights and that Öcalan’s release, based on a move towards resolving the Kurdish Question, would be a significant and crucial step forward.

Recently, concerns have deepened about Öcalan’s welfare, with neither his family nor legal team being permitted any contact with him for three years. In September 2022, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture sent a delegation to the Imrali island prison facility where Öcalan has been held for 24 years since his imprisonment, following his illegal abduction from Kenya in 1999. The isolation inflicted on Öcalan is clearly a form of torture that no state should be allowed to continue without challenge.

Since its return, there has been no information forthcoming from the Committee for the Prevention of Torture as to his health, except, recently, to reassure his family and supporters that he is still alive. In July 2023, the UK Trade Union Campaign – Freedom for Öcalan held a press conference in front of the European Parliament in Brussels to draw attention to the issue, involving international trade unionists, lawyers and civil society representatives from across Europe, where Mike Arnott, then STUC President, and Glasgow City Councillor Roza Salih were invited participants. They were also involved in a subsequent public call for action over Öcalan held in Strasbourg. We are asking that you, on behalf of the United Kingdom Government, make representations to the Turkish Government urging them to allow Öcalan access to his family and lawyers and to work towards Öcalan’s release as a positive move towards resolving the Kurdish Question in Turkey.

We also ask that you make representations to the Council of Europe and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture asking them to release further information regarding their visit to Öcalan and to act against Turkey if they do not end Öcalan’s isolation.

Finally, we ask that you keep the STUC, and through us the Kurdish community in Scotland, informed of discussions regarding Öcalan and the Kurdish Question in Turkey and the wider region.”