"For yet another year, Abdullah Öcalan will spend his 73th birthday in isolation shuttered away in a Turkish prison cell on Imrali, as he has done so every day and every birthday for the past twenty-three years," said Peace in Kurdistan Campaign in a statement.

The London-based campaign group continued: "To be deprived of freedom for twenty-three years is seven years longer than the average life sentence in Britain. Lifers in British gaols are offered the chance of earlier release for good behaviour and are granted rights to education and social activities unless they are detained for committing the most heinous crimes imaginable. Abdullah Öcalan is not a common criminal; he is a political leader. His only crime was to defy the Turkish state and resist the savage repression of his people that this state inflicted on them and continues to do so.

While free and while incarcerated, Abdullah Öcalan has fought courageously for peace and reconciliation between the Turkish and Kurdish peoples; frequently defying criticism from some of his own support base. He has insisted that peace is not only possible, but essential."

Peace in Kurdistan added: "Turkey has rebuffed his appeals and silenced him. Abdullah Öcalan is deprived of even the basic requirements of what is necessary to be a human being; that is, interaction with other people; the conversations and friendship that we all take for granted and what even common prisoners held for murder and other terrible offences, are permitted.

Abdullah Öcalan is claimed by the Turkish state to be so dangerous that he must be kept in isolation and cannot be allowed to speak to the outside world, either directly or through intermediaries. These punishing conditions have been imposed on him for more than two decades. During that time, murderers have served their time and been released."

The statement said: "For Abdullah Öcalan there is at present no remission. He is given no indication that he will ever be released or even that his conditions will be relaxed; he is deprived of hope. This callous treatment is exceptional and inhuman; the Turkish state and its leader, President Erdogan, are flouting all the norms of international law and behaving inhumanely.  

All human beings are entitled to hope for a betterment of their conditions. Hope of better times keeps us alive. Abdullah Öcalan is resilient, but he is human too. He is not a child and does not miss the normal birthday get togethers that other people enjoy. But he does deserve the right to enjoy a normal life and that entails the opportunity to meet and socialise with friends and loved ones. Human beings are social creatures; they crave the company of others.

To inflict isolation on an individual for such a long period of time is a cruelty that is beyond endurance for most ordinary people. Öcalan is a strong character and survives the ordeal, but by any standards of law, he has now earned his right to freedom."

The statement continued: "But this is not about the fate of one man or his physical discomfort, although these are important matters. Abdullah Öcalan is a national political leader. He is honoured as a hero by the Kurdish people for fighting the historic injustice that they suffer. Öcalan brought hope to the Kurds by building a movement and inspiring them with a vision that they could be free.

More important of all is that how Öcalan is punished, humiliated and dehumanised by the Turkish state reflects how Turkey treats the Kurdish people as a whole. They continue to be repressed inside Turkey and attacked across the border. The ban on the HDP, the political party supported by Kurdish people in elections, is coming up before the Turkish Constitutional Court soon. If the ban is confirmed, the Kurds will be deprived of a political voice and representation in Turkey. Meanwhile, the Turkish military continue their intervention into northern Iraq (southern Kurdistan), killing and bombing civilians intermittently, with hardly a murmur of protest from the so-called international community and those who are supposed to uphold international law.

All the while, Turkey seeks a higher profile on the international stage as a peace maker by hosting the talks between Russia and Ukraine to bring the conflict in Europe to an end. Turkey’s allies look on approvingly and the world applauds Erdogan for his efforts at working to achieve peace. The hypocrisy and double standards are truly sickening.

Turkey should be judged by its actions with regards to the treatment of the Kurdish people and their leader Abdullah Öcalan. Peace in Kurdistan sends its greetings to Abdullah Ocalan on the occasion on his birthday and repeats once again the call for his immediate release.

The world must acknowledge that Öcalan has a vital role to play in the pursuit of peace and reconciliation between Turkey and the Kurds. This conflict raging for decades must never be forgotten. A solution is as urgent as ever."