Signatures keep coming in for the letter to Dr Alan Mitchell, President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The letter calls on the CPT to send a delegation immediately to meet with Abdullah Öcalan, and to encourage Turkey to comply with their obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and allow visits from his family and lawyers.
We reproduce the letter below, along with links to versions sent by different groups from different organisations and countries. We will update these links as more letters are sent.
Öcalan has now had no contact with anyone outside İmralı Prison since a brief phone call with his brother on 25 March 2021. The only exception to this is the CPT’s visit in September 2022, of which nothing has been made public. The CPT’s rules do not allow them to publish their reports without permission from the state concerned – in this case Turkey – but they do have the possibility of making a public statement when their advice has not been taken. Ocalan’s lawyers asked the CPT to invoke Article 10/2 and make a statement concerning the conditions in İmralı, but they have not done so. When the CPT visited Turkey in February, they did not take the opportunity to go to İmralı.
Here is the basic letter, as penned by the Internationalist Solidarity Network behind the ‘Freedom for Ocalan: A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ Campaign:
For the past 36 months, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is seen by millions of Kurds as their rightful political representative, has been held in an extreme form of incommunicado detention by the Turkish state on the prison island of Imrali. During this illegal and inhumane isolation, Mr. Öcalan has been “disappeared” and dropped into a void of “non-existence,” while being denied all contact with the outside world, including his lawyers and family. Throughout this period, Turkey has attempted to transform Imrali island into a “floating coffin”. Mr. Öcalan, who is now 75 years old, has been subjected to cruel torture through isolation for 25 years and over the last three years, no information has been provided concerning his health. At this point, even his whereabouts cannot be confirmed, and his physical condition is a highly sensitive issue for millions of Kurds who see him as embodying their national voice.
This is why we are summoning you, the CPT, to act. As the CPT, you are entitled to visit all places of detention of states which are party to the Convention, including Turkey. This affords you the ability to send your team of experts to Imrali, where the Turkish government must grant you unrestricted access to visit where Mr. Öcalan is being held captive and allow you to interview him in private so he can communicate with you freely.
What we are asking is simply that the members of the CPT act in accordance with Article 3 of the Statute of the CoE, which states that “Every member of the Council of Europe must accept the principles of the rule of law and the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Mr. Öcalan is a citizen of a CoE member state that has been denying him his human rights for two and half decades, and for the last three years, has been depriving him of his legal rights to meet with his lawyers and speak with his family.
All we ask, with complete sincerity, is that you please immediately send a delegation to visit Imrali Island to speak with Mr. Öcalan and check on his well-being. Following that, we would greatly appreciate if you could attempt to compel Turkey to allow him to receive a visit from his family and lawyers, so that they are in compliance with CoE and CPT obligations. This would help address an urgent human rights issue and concern for millions of Kurds and could also renew the spirit of reconciliation, which are needed to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
Letters have been sent by:
Spanish trade unions and other organisations
Austrian campaigners, including politicians, writers and academics
French campaigners, including parliamentarians, lawyers, academics, writers, and journalists