Senators and deputies of the Basque Country and Catalonia sent a letter each to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers supporting a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue and the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.

The political parties EH Bildu and Candidtura d'Unitat Popular - Defensem la Terra, emphasized that the Council of Europe must take action for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.

The letter was addressed to the chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Xavier Bettel, and the members of the committee, and said that 26 years will have passed since the kidnapping of Abdullah Öcalan on 15 February 1999.

The letter underlined that “since then, he has been held on the Turkish prison island of Imrali. Visits by his family and lawyers followed the political arbitrariness of Turkish governments. In 2014, the ECHR ruled that Mr. Öcalan’s aggravated life sentence, which excludes the possibility of parole, breached the European Convention on Human Rights. The court recommended that Turkey amend its laws to guarantee that prisoners are made aware of the potential for eventual release—known as the Right to Hope.” 

The letter added that “at the meeting of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers from 17-19 September, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers once again pressed Turkey to take immediate steps towards compliance with the ECHR 2014 rule. The committee warned it would consider drafting an interim resolution if no progress was made by 20 September. 

Since October 10, 2023, millions of people in Kurdistan and around the world have participated in the “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan - A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question” campaign to draw attention to Mr. Öcalan’s plight and drew the world’s attention to the path to peace. The political importance of Mr. Öcalan for the Turkish-Kurdish conflict cannot be overstated, and a resolution of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, which has now spilled beyond Turkey’s borders as the Turkish military attacks, invades, and occupies areas in northern Syria and northern Iraq, could also bring peace to the Middle East.”

The letter said that “the fact that political delegations of the DEM party (The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party) are now selectively receiving permission to visit Mr. Öcalan in confinement due to pressure from the CoE and global political and civil society organizations may be a positive development. However, Mr. Öcalan is still a political prisoner held in violation of various laws and human rights conventions. Mr. Öcalan must be allowed to meet with his lawyers and family, and ultimately, be freed under conditions that allow him to play a role in finding a just and democratic political solution to Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish conflict.”

The signatories said that “it is now up to the Committee of Ministers to take concrete legal, diplomatic and political steps towards the release of Mr. Öcalan for a peaceful political solution to the Kurdish question.”

The signatories of the letters are as follows:

Pernando Barrena, EU MEP (EH Bildu)

Gorka Elejabarrieta, Senator EH Bildu Group President

Josu Estarrona, Senator EH Bildu Group

Jon Iñarritu, Chamber of Deputies EH Bildu Group MEP

Irati Jimenez, Navarra Parliament EH Bildu Group MEP

Igor Zulaika, Basque Parliament EH Bildu Group MEP

Diana Urrea, Basque Parliament EH Bildu Group MEP

Laia Estrada i Cañón, Catalan Parliament MEP GP CUP-DT Group President

Dani Cornellà Detrell, Catalan Parliament MEP GP CUP-DT Spokesperson

Maria Pilar Castillejo Medina, Catalan Parliament MEP

Laura Fernández Vega, Catalan Parliament MEP