Abdullah Öcalan case and human rights violations in Turkey

Our client Abdullah Öcalan has been held in Imralı island prison since 1999 until this day, for 17 whole years, as a result of the international conspiracy. The 17 year long island isolation has been a history of unprecedented prison practices, with hindered lawyer and family visits, disallowed communication rights like telephone calls and letters and restricted right to information like reading newspapers and watching television.

For instance, we as Abdullah Öcalan’s lawyers have not been able to meet with our client since July 27, 2011. The meeting requests we file each week are continuously being refused with laughable and immoral excuses like “adverse weather conditions”, “ship malfunction” and “the captain is sick”. The main purpose of these solely political isolation practices is to deepen the deadlock of the Kurdish question with turning even Mr. Öcalan’s most fundamental human rights into a matter of negotiation, and to dictate a one-sided understanding of solution where a solution cannot outright be thwarted. In this sense, Mr. Abdullah Öcalan is not a prisoner held by the laws of Turkey, but a captive. The conditions of his imprisonment is in the form of captivity.

The essential source that brings forth these harsh conditions is the handing over of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan to Turkey against national and international law in February of the year 1999. State officials from countries like the USA, Israel, Italy, Greece, Russia and Kenya are