44 months have passed without any news from Abdullah Öcalan. The Kurdish people’s leader has been held in severe isolation conditions in the Imrali torture system since 1999. His rights to see a lawyer and family have been denied as a whole, engulfed in a state of absolute lack of communication. The 'Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Political Solution to the Kurdish Question' international campaign was launched globally on 10 October 2023, and continues to mobilize to demand freedom for the Kurdish people’s leader.

One of the supporters of the global freedom campaign is the Italian NGO Fonti di Pace. The association’s president, Eleonora Bonaccorsi, spoke to the ANF about the İmralı torture system and the importance of Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas.

‘Imrali isolation is unparalleled in the world’

Eleonora Bonaccorsi, said the conditions in which Öcalan is in are "horrific and unprecedented" and added: "This isolation cannot be explained by any law."

Bonaccorsi said: "We are all responsible for the conditions in which Abdullah Öcalan is in. Italy is particularly responsible for it and must face this responsibility. Öcalan was in Italy; he was taken prisoner after being forced to leave. Although Italy does not accept this responsibility, we are aware of what happened."

Bonaccorsi continued: "We are following the conditions in which Öcalan is kept very closely. I have attended many meetings in the European Parliament to discuss this issue and to mobilize civil society movements. We have a responsibility to explain the lawlessness that Öcalan is facing everywhere. We, as a people, have expressed our opposition to this isolation, but the European authorities prefer to remain silent. The reason for this silence is that they do not want to harm their relations with Erdoğan."

‘We are trying to implement Öcalan’s ideas’

Bonaccorsi said that "the paradigm put forward by Abdullah Öcalan is truly very advanced. He deeply addresses many of the problems experienced today and offers an alternative and solution with the ideas he puts forward. We strongly defend Öcalan’s paradigm and try to implement it.

We also economically support projects that spread Öcalan’s paradigm and try to implement it. We stand in solidarity with everyone who implements Öcalan’s ideas both in Europe and Kurdistan, because we believe that this paradigm must be defended."

‘We must continue to fight for Öcalan’s freedom’

Bonaccorsi said: "Öcalan is a reality. We cannot close our eyes to the conditions Öcalan is in and ignore the unlawfulness that is taking place. Therefore, we must continue to fight until we achieve his freedom."