The conference titled “Peace and Stability in the Middle East through the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan” in Southern Kurdistan’s Sulaimani city continues in its third day.

Nelson Mandela's lawyer and International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative member Judge Essa Moosa spoke to ANF about the Kurdish leader Öcalan's thoughts for the solution of the problems in the Middle East, the implications of Öcalan’s thoughts for Europe too, and the most recent CPT visit to İmralı where he is held.

What do you think on the implications of Öcalan's thoughts for the solution of the problems in the Middle East?

Well, as I mentioned in my presentation yesterday, Abdullah Öcalan will have a very important participation in any political solution, not only in Turkey, but also in the Middle East as a whole. And it is absolutely essential for there to be peace in the Middle East and in Turkey, as well as there to be freedom for the Kurdish people, he must be released, unconditionally, and he must participate in the peace process. Up to now, he has participated in talks with regard to the peace process, but he has not been able to consult his constituency freely. Mandela said that you can’t initiate peace from prison. You can only discuss, you can only talk from prison. But the actual negotiations should take place once he is released and he is free, so that he can consult his constituency, so that whenever any negotiations take place and there is a solution at the end of the process, and that the people buy into that particular peace process. And I think it is absolutely essential that he plays that particular role, not only in Turkey, but also with regard to the neighboring countries.

In order to bring about peace and stability in the Middle East, you discussed in length the nation state and women’s role. What do you think Mr. Öcalan can contribute to the Middle East society in this regard? And especially, now that in Europe people are also discussing the nation state and, let’s say, the women’s role, in your view, what can be the implications of Mr. Öcalan’s thoughts for Europe too?

You know, with regard to the nation state, so many nation states have been failures. And there have been myriad reasons for that. Because it’s a question of control, and there are elements that broadly try and control these nations. And not only do they control the nations, but they also try to exploit the wealth of the people. And in order to control them they also create all sorts of instability, so they can have access to the wealth of the people. The people don’t benefit in the process, their countries are destroyed, they become refugees, and what in fact happened is that they decided to find “greener pastures” elsewhere, and there is this mass exodus of people from the Middle East to Europe to find greener pastures. Because those are the very countries that try, and in fact are responsible for the destabilization of the countries in the Middle East. And those are the consequences of that destabilization. We’ve witnessed the Arab Spring. Although there was a resistance to the existing status quo of those countries, they didn’t have an altermative. In the case of Abdullah Öcalan, he provides an alternative, in the form of what today we’re experiencing in Rojava, where democracy starts from the ground. Democracy doesn’t start from the top and isn’t dictated to the bottom. So he offers that as a solution to the people in the Middle East. And they have now started implementing that particular solution in Rojava. And if it can work in Rojava, there’s no reason why it won’t work elsewhere, not only in the Middle East, but also in Europe.

As you mentioned in your remarks in the conference, CPT, Commission for the Prevention of Torture, have visited İmralı. But they have not issued any report about it. What do you think the reason may be behind the postponement of the release of such a report? What is your view on the role that CPT can play on the release of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan?

They can’t play a direct role in the release of Abdullah Öcalan. What their role can be is to ameliorate, to improve his conditions in prison. They have for the last years. They’ve been to the imralı island on 6 occasions, and on various occasions they made various recommendations. Some of the recommendations were in fact adhered to by the Turkish state, others haven’t been, as of yet. We in fact went to appeal to them to go back because they’ve not been there for the last 3 years. They in fact went back, but there are certain procedures that happen when they go and prepare the report. They go there, they interview the prisoners in İmralı island, they interview Abdullah Öcalan, they then get the situation from them. They then report to the Turkish government and the Turkish government is then required to respond to whatever complaints they might have. So, that process takes up to six months, and on a previous occasion, they only came out with a report a year later, after they had been to İmralı island. So, my assessment at the moment is that the delay is because the matter is with the Turkish government.