AKP banned Abdullah Öcalan from seeing his lawyers on November 3, 2002 for the first time. The last ban came after the end of Oslo meetings on July 27, 2011 and has continued for 4 years until today.

The course of the 16 years old isolation on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Prison is the main indicator of AKP’s approach to the Kurdish issue. After its discourse “change,” AKP won the November 3, 2002 election and prevented Öcalan from seeing his lawyers for 4 months. Öcalan’s right to have visitors twice a week was reduced to once a week after 2001. AKP’s ban on Öcalan from seeing his lawyers became institutionalized after the end of the Oslo meetings between the PKK and the state on July 27, 2011. Asrın Law Office prepared a report on the course of the meetings between Öcalan and his lawyers since 1999.

46 MEETINGS IN 1999

The first meeting took place on February 25, 1999 when Öcalan was imprisoned in İmralı Prison after an international conspiracy. Öcalan’s lawyers met with their client 46 times in 1999, a year of prosecution and attacks on Kurdish people. 1 meeting took place in February, 3 in March, 2 in April, 5 each in May and June, 7 in July, 4 in August, 7 in September, 4 in October, 6 in November and 2 in December.

34 MEETINGS IN 2000

Below is the distribution of the 34 meetings that took place in 2000: January 4, February 2, March 4, April 2, May 2, June 4, July 4, August 4, September 1, October 2, November 3.

FIRST BAN COMES IN THE FIRST MONTH OF AKP GOVERNMENT

AKP began to prevent Öcalan from seeing his lawyers in November, 2002. 3 meetings each took place in January, February and March, 4 meetings each were held in April, May, June and July, 3 meetings each took place in August and September, 1 in October and 2 in November.

After its discourse “change,” AKP won the November 3, 2002 election and prevented Öcalan from seeing his lawyers for 4 months. The first meeting of 2003 was held on April 9, and became to only meeting of this month. 3 meetings each took place in May, June, July and August, 2 in September and 1 each in November and December. Among the 17 meetings that were held in 2003, none of the took place in October.

Among the 21 meetings that took place in 2004, none of them were held in February or November. Öcalan met with his lawyers twice in January, 4 times in March, 3 times each in April and May, once in June, twice each in July and August, once each in September and October, and twice in December.

10 MEETINGS IN 2005

The 2004 decline in the number of yearly meetings continued in 2005 during which only 10 meetings took place between Öcalan and his lawyers. None of these meetings were held in the months of July, August, September and December.

There were 24 meetings in 2006, but none of them were held in April. Among the 29 meetings in 2007, 4 each were held in January and February, 2 in March, 1 in April, 4 in May, 3 in June, 1 in July, 3 in August, 4 in September, 1 in October, and 2 in November.

Öcalan met with his lawyers 37 times in 2008, 50 times in 2009, and 43 times in 2010 in İmralı island.

CRITICAL DATE: JULY 27, 2011

2011 is the most critical year in the course of Öcalan’s meetings with his lawyers. 3 meetings took place in January, 2 in February, 5 in March, 3 in April, 4 each in May and June, and 3 in July. Öcalan has not been able to meet with his lawyers since July 27. The ban on Öcalan came right after the end of the Oslo meetings between the PKK and the state in 2011 as well as the AKP’s electoral victory on July 22, 2011.

409 APPLICATIONS REJECTED

Öcalan’s lawyers have made 409 applications to see their client since July 27, 2011. 43 applications were made between July 27 and December 31, 104 in 2012, 102 in 2013, 104 in 2014, and 56 during the first half of 2015. The Turkish state rejected all of these applications, using excuses such as “broken boat,” “bad weather” and official holidays.

'TURKEY’S GUANTANAMO’

Asrın Law Office spoke to ANF on the ban and described İmralı Prison as “Turkey’s Guantanamo.” Lawyers emphasized the constitutional protection of lawyer/client meetings and said that this right, among many others, has been violated numerous times over the past 16 years in İmralı Island.