The isolation of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Island continues. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture had visited the island on April 28 and 29, but has not yet made any statement to the public or Öcalan’s lawyers regarding Öcalan’s health and condition. Lawyer Reyhan Yalçındağ spoke to ANF on the CPT’s visit to İmralı and said the AKP was violating the law in order to isolate Öcalan. Yalçındağ described the isolation of Öcalan as torture and said that it was connected with the AKP’s decision to end the negotiations.

'THE CPT VIEWS THE HEAVY ISOLATION OF ÖCALAN AS TORTURE'

Lawyer Yalçındağ stated that the HDP committee has not been able to visit İmralı Island since April 5, 2015 and Öcalan’s lawyer have not been in İmralı since July 2011, and described these state prohibitions as the violation of international treaties to which Turkey is a part of. Yalçındağ said that the CPT is expected release its report on the issue in the near future, and said that the CPT’s organizational purpose and visit to İmralı show that the CPT views the heavy isolation of Öcalan as torture.

‘AKP IS THE MOST LAWLESS GOVERNMENT’

Yalçındağ emphasized that Turkey has systematically violated nearly all of the treated that it has signed, and described the AKP as the most lawless government. Yalçındağ noted that the AKP prevents access to Öcalan in order to hide the details of how the negotiation process ended.

‘THE AKP WANTS TO INTENSIFY THE WAR’

Lawyer Yalçındağ stated that the AKP wants to intensify the war and the isolation of Öcalan is part of this intensification effort. Yalçındağ emphasized that Öcalan’s health condition is unknown even to his family members, and the state activated its dark forces from the 90s in order to prevent the democratic and peaceful solution of the conflict.

‘EUROPEAN COUNTRIES SHOULD FULFILL THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES’

Yalçındağ called upon European countries to object to Erdoğan’s use of the refugee crisis as a blackmailing tool, and fulfill their responsibilities and pressure in order to end Turkey’s policies. Yalçınday noted that the CPT could play the role it could not play in Cizre through the option of İmralı Island, and called upon the committee to help end the isolation of Öcalan.