A committee formed by the Amara Kurdish Women’s Assembly met with Amnesty International officials in Stockholm and voiced concerns regarding Öcalan and asked the organisation to step in for ending the isolation.

The committee comprised of Nurten Cengiz, Nuşin Balık and Ferah Bozcalı from Amara Kurdish Women’s Assembly met with Amnesty International Sweden section International Relations department administrators Andrea Bodekull and Sofia Jörgensen. The committee informed the AI officials on the armed and bomb attacks on several state institutions, including the Parliament, during the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, and rumors were running rampant that the coup plotters were planning to carry out an armed attack on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan who has been held hostage on Imralı Island for the last 15 years.

The committee explained that these rumors increased concerns and worries about Öcalan’s health among Kurds in four parts of Kurdistan and in the diaspora, and that Turkish government’s refusal to all appeals made by Öcalan’s family and lawyers to visit him has increased the concerns and raised the tensions in the country.

The committee pointed out the aggravated isolation imposed upon Öcalan and emphasized that banning the Kurdish People’s Leader from seeing his family and lawyers and disallowing the meetings with the İmralı Committee since April 5, 2015 is a violation of fundamental human rights and is against international treaties.

The committee turned over an extensive file prepared on Öcalan’s situation to the Amnesty International administrators and offered them to form a joint committee for the removal of the isolation imposed upon Öcalan.

Andrea Bodekull said they valued the exchange of information with the Kurdish women, that they will take the information and the file given to them to the organisation headquarters, adding that they will let Amara Kurdish Women’s Assembly know what the outcome is.